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WORKS    BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR, 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  DOYLE,  BOOKSELLER, 
NEW   YORK. 


COBBETT'S  ADVICE  TO  YOUNG  MEN,  and  (in- 
cidentally) TO  YOUNG  WOMEN,  in  the  middle  and 
higher  ranks  of  life.  In  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to 
a  youth,  a  bachelor,  a  lover,  a  husband,  a  citizen  or 
a  subject  18mo. — 50  cents. 

COBBETT'S  GRAMMAR  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
LANGUAGE,  in  a  series  of  letters.  Intended  for  the 
use  of  schools  and  of  young  persons  in  general ;  but 
more  especially  for  the  use  of  soldiers,  sailors,  appren- 
tices, and  ploughboys.  To  which  are  added,  six  les- 
sons, intended  to  prevent  statesmen  from  using  false 
grammar,  and  from  writing  in  an  awkward  manner. 
18mo. — 50  cents. 


COBBETT'S  FRENCH  GRAMMAR ;  or  Plain  In- 
structions for  the  Learning  of  French,  in  a  series  of 
letters.  18mo. — 75  cents. 


COBBETT'S  COTTAGE  ECONOMY:  containing 
information  relative  to  the  brewing  of  beer,  making  of 
bread,  keeping  of  cows,  pigs,  bees,  ewes,  goats,  poultry, 
and  rabbits,  and  relative  to  other  matters  deemed  use- 
ful in  the  conducting  of  the  affairs  of  a  labourer's 
family  ;  to  which  are  added,  instructions  relative  to  the 
selecting  the  cutting  and  the  bleaching  of  the  plants  of 
English  grass  and  grain,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
hats  and  bonnets;  and  also  instructions  for  erecting 
and  using  ice-houses,  after  the  Virginian  manner.  To 
which  is  added,  THE  POOR  MAN'S  FRIEND  ;  or  A 
Defence  of  the  rights  of  those  who  do  the  Work  and 
fight  the  Battles.  18mo. — 50  cents. 

COBBBET'S  AMERICAN  GARDENER ;  or,  a  Trea- 
tise on  the  Situation,  Soil,  Fencing  and  Laying  out  of 
Gardens;  on  the  making  and  managing  of  Hot-Beds, 
and  Green-Houses ;  and  on  the  Propagation  and  Cul- 
tivation of  the  several  sorts  of  Vegetables,  Herbs, 
Fruits,  and  Flowers.  18mo. — 50  cents. 


COBBETT'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
REFORMATION,  IN   ENGLAND  AND  IRELAND  ; 

showing  how  that  event  has  impoverished  and  degrad- 
ed the  main  body  of  the  people  in  those  countries,  in 
a  series  of  letters,  addressed  to  all  sensible  and  just 
Englishmen;  in  2  vols.  (The  second  volume  contains 
a  list  of  the  abbeys,  priories,  nunneries,  hospitals,  and 
other  religious  foundations  in  England  and  Wales,  and 
in  Ireland,  confiscated,  seized  on,  or  alienated,  by  the 
"  Protestant  Reformation,"  sovereigns,  and  parlia- 
ments.) 2  vols.  18mo.  bound  in  one. — $1. 


COBBETT'S  THIRTEEN  SERMONS,  on,  1.  Hy- 
pocrisy and  Cruelty.  2.  Drunkenness.  3.  Bribery.  4. 
The  Rights  of  the  Poor.  5.  Unjust  Judges.  6.  The  Slug- 
gard. 7.  Murder.  8.  Gambling.  9.  Public  Robbery. 
10.  The  Unnatural  Mother.  11.  Forbidding  Marriage. 
12.  Parsons  and  Tythes.  13.  Good  Friday.  To  which 
is  added,  an  Address  to  the  Working  Class  on  the  New 
Dead  Body  Bill.  18mo.— 50  cents. 

COBBETT'S  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD  ;  or  the  His- 
tory  and  Mystery  of  the  Bank  of  England,  of  the  debt 
of  the  stocks,  of  the  sinking  fund,  and  of  all  the  other 
tricks  and  contrivances,  carried  on  by  means  of  paper 
money.  18mo. — 75  cents. 


COBBETT'S  TRIAL.— A  FULL  AND  ACCURATE 
REPORT  OF  THE  TRIAL  OF  WILLIAM  COB- 
BETT,  M.  P.,  before  Lord  Tenterden,  and  a  Special  Ju- 
ry, in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  London.  8  vo.— 25  cents. 

COBBETT'S    LEGACY   TO    THE  PARSONS,   in 

Six  Letters,  addressed  to  the  Church  Parsons,  in  ge- 
neral, including  the  Cathedral  and  College  Clergy,  and 
the  Bishops,  with  a  Dedication  to  Dr.  Bloomfield,  Bishop 
of  London  :— To  which  is  added  his  LEGACY  TO  LA- 
BOURERS ;  or,  What  is  the  Right  which  the  Lords, 
Baronets,  and  Squires,  have  to  the  Lands  of  England  1 
In  Six  Letters,  addressed  to  the  Working  People  of 
England,  with  a  Dedication  to  Sir  Robert  Peel.  18mo. 
—50  cents.  • 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD , 

OR,    THE 

HISTORY  AND  MYSTERY 


BANK    OF    ENGLAND, 

OP  THE  DEBT,  OP  THE  STOCKS,  OF  THE  SINKING  FUND, 
AND  OP  ALL  THE  OTHER  TRICKS  AND  CON- 
TRIVANCES, CARRIED  ON  BY  THE  MEANS 
OF  PAPER  MONEY. 


BY  WILLIAM  COBBETT,  M.  P. 


"  In  the  course  of  this  work,  I  have  clearly  expressed  mj  opinions  as  to 
the  final  fatal  effect  of  the  paper  money  :  those  opinions  are  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  those  of  the  Ministers  and  the  Parliament :  TIME,  the  trier  of  all 
things,  must  now  decide  between  us  ;  and,  if  I  he  wrong,  1  have,  at  least, 
taken  effectual  means  to  make  my  error  as  conspicuous  and  as  notorious  as 
possible  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  I  he  right,  I  have  laid  the  sure  founda- 
tion of~complete  triumph  over  my  haughty,  supercilious,  unjust,  and  insolent 
foes."— PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD,  CONCLUDING  PARAGRAPH. 


NEW  YORK  : 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  DOYLE. 


1846. 


A 
GENERAL 


DEDICATION 

TO  THE 

DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON. 


MY  LORD  DUKE, 

You,  who  are  now  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
ought  to  understand  the  principles  relating  to  money, 
that  great  instrument  in  the  carrying  on  of  human 
affairs ;  and,  as  it  is  my  opinion,  founded  on  various 
reasons,  and  particularly  on  that  suggested  by  your 
recent  speech  on  the  Corn-Laws,  that  you  do  not  un- 
derstand those  principles,  I  present  this  book  to  you 
as  a  teacher  in  this  branch  of  knowledge,  now  so 
necessary  to  enable  you  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of 
the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  difficulties,  with 
which  you  find  yoursen  surrounded. 

In  order  to  convince  you  that  the  book  demands 
your  attention,  a  bare  statement  of  the  followkig  cir- 
cumstances, out  of  which  it  arose,  ought  to  DC  suffi- 
cient. For  seven  years  previous  to  1810,  I  had  con- 
tended, and,  indeed,  I  had  been  repeatedly  proving, 
that  the  paper-money  was  depreciated,  and  that  it 
must,  in  the  end,  produce  a  convulsion  in  the  country, 
unless  prevented  by  a  diminution  of  the  Debt,  and 
a  return  to  payments  in  gold,  always  considering 
the  latter  as  impossible  without  the  former.  On  ac- 
count of  these  opinions,  I  had  to  undergo  the  almost 
incessant  abuse  of  the  base  press  of  London ;  and, 
indeed,  of  the  whole  country ;  and,  which  was  a 
more  serious  matter,  I  had  to  undergo  the  conse- 
quences of  the  wrath  of  the  people  in  power,  inclu- 
ding that  of  the  far  greater  part  of  the  Members  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Parliament.  At  last,  however,  a 


DEDICATION. 


portion  of  the  Parliament  came  to  make  the  assertion, 
that  a  depreciation  in  the  value  of  the  paper-money 
had  actually  taken  place ;  and,  finally,  a  Committee 
of  the  people  who  had  got  into  the  Commons'  House, 
was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  matter. 

This  Committee,  which  ought  to  have  been  called 
the  Paper-Committee,  was  called  the  Bullion-Corn- 
jnittee,  having  for  its  Chairman  one  HORNER,  a  Scotch 
lawyer.  After  immense  volumes  of  "  evidence"  ta- 
ken down  and  published  at  the  public  expense,  this 
Committee  reported  to  the  House  that  the  bank- 
notes were  depreciated,  and  that,  in  order  to  prevent 
future  fatal  consequences,  a  law  ought  to  be  passed 
to  compel  the  Bank  to  pay  in  gold  at  the  end  of 
two  years  from  that  time.  The  Ministry  contend- 
ed, that  the  bank  notes  were  not  depreciated,  and 
that  the  notes  could,  at  any  time,  be  paid  in  gold, 
but  that,  during  war,  the  proposed  measure  was  in- 
expedient. 

I  contended,  that  both  sides  were  totally  ignorant 
on  the  subject ;  and  that  the  bank  notes,  without  a 
great  reduction  of  the  interest  of  the  debt,  and  of  all 
other  out-goings,  never  could  be  paid  in  gold,  with- 
out plunging  the  country  into  ruin.  To  prove  this 
opinion  to  be  correct,  and  to  show  that  I  understood 
more  of  the  matter  than  both  sides  of  the  House  put 
together,  I  wrote  and  published  this  book,  with  an 
avowed  intention,  too,  of  having  it  to  produce,  when 
time  should  have  verified  its  doctrines,  and  when  the 
sufferings  of  the  nation  should  have  disposed  it  to 
listen  to  truth  and  reason. 

The  time  is  come,  the  doctrines  have  been  verified, 
the  sufferings  have  taken  place  ;  and,  therefore,  here 
is  the  book.  The  scoffings,  the  scornings,  the  abuse, 
the  reviling,  the  horrible  calumnies  and  the  base  per- 
secutions which  this  book  and  other  efforts  of  a  si- 
milar kind  brought  upon  me,  and  the  briefest  notice 
of  each  instance  of  which  would  fill  fifty  volumes 
more  bulky  than  this,  are  all  amply  avenged  by  the 
joy  that  I  feel  at  that  which  /  now  behold,  and  which 


DEDICATION.  5 

can  no  longer  be  hidden  even  from  the  blindest  and 
most  besotted  of  the  people. 

These  men  in  power,  seldom  behind-hand  in  the 
career  of  contumely,  arrogance,  and  insolence,  seem- 
ed to  adopt  it  as  a  maxim,  that  their  main  business 
was  to  take  care  to  do  nothing  that  the  nation  should 
be  able  to  trace  to  my  advice,  on  which  maxim  they 
appear  to  have  proceeded  from  that  day  to  this.  I, 
on  my  part,  resolved  to  maintain  the  right  of  mind 
to  a  superiority  over  matter,  have  constantly  been 
repeating  my  advice,  and  keeping  the  past  as  well  as 
the  present,  steadily  before  the  eyes  of  the  nation ; 
and,  thus  has  the  struggle  been  continued  for  nearly 
twenty  years.  These  men  in  power,  the  very  proper 
and  adequate  representatives  of  an  aristocracy,  with 
some  few  exceptions,  the  most  haughty,  the  most  su- 
percilious, the  most  conceited,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
the  most  empty  and  mean  that  the  world  ever  saw, 
seemed  to  read  and  to  study  all  that  I  wrote  upon 
this  subject,  in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  do 
precisely  that  which  I  recommended  not  to  be  done, 
and  that  they  might  shun,  as  a  sailor  does  the  rocks, 
every  thing  which  I  had  advised  them  to  do ;  while 
I,  in  order  to  secure  ample  vengeance  on  them,  took 
care  to  be  incessantly  recommending  the  only  mea- 
sures that  could  save  the  country  from  ruin!  This 
was  an  odd  way  of  seeking  revenge :  and,  whoever 
is  convinced  that  this  has  really  been  the  case,  will 
look  upon  the  present  state  of  things  as  the  natural 
and  appropriate  result. 

What  are  the  deserts  of  these  men,  it  is,  or  rather, 
it  will  be,  for  the  nation  to  say  ;  but,  nothing  can  be 
more  notorious  than  the  following  facts :  namely, 
that,  in  1810,  I  proved  to  these  men  (in  this  work 
which  I  now  present  to  you,)  that,  if  they  ever  at- 
tempted to  return  to  gold-payments  without  first  re- 
ducing the  interest  of  the  Debt,  they  would  ruin  the 
country  ;  that,  early  in  1818,  TIERNEY,  a  member  of 
parliament,  who  has  since  been  Master  of  the  Mint, 
recommended  to  them  a  gradual  return  to  gold-pay- 
1* 


6  DEDICATION. 

ments,  without  any  reduction  of  the  interest  of  the 
Debt ;  that,  in  the  fall  of  that  same  year,  I,  in  a  Letter 
to  TIERNEY,  warned  them  of  the  terrible  danger  of 
following  TIERNEY'S  advice,  and,  after  proving  to 
them  how  injurious  that  advice,  if  followed,  must  be 
to  the  country,  besought  them  not  to  follow  it ;  that, 
this  was  quite  enough  to  make  them  follow  TIERNEY'S 
advice,  which  they  did,  immediately  afterwards,  in 
adopting  the  measure,  called  PEEL'S  BILL  ;  that,  as 
soon  as  that  bill  was  passed,  I  besought  them  to  re- 
duce the  taxes  so  as  to  prevent  the  ruin  that  the  bill 
must  otherwise  produce,  and,  at  the  same  time,  I  as- 
sured them,  that  they  should  have  leave  to  broil  me 
on  a  gridiron  if  they  (without  a  great  reduction  of 
taxes)  ever  carried  Peel's  Bill  into  full  effect ;  that, 
here  again  was  quite  enough  to  make  them  persevere 
in  the  bill,  which  they  did,  adding  to  the  taxes,  at 
the  same  time,  instead  of  reducing  them,  until,  in 
July,  1822,  the  country  was  on  the  eve  of  absolute 
convulsion ;  that  then  they  gave  way,  partly  repeal- 
ed Peel's  Bill,  but,  in  opposition  to  my  advice,  re- 
fused to  listen  to  the  prayer  of  the  KENTISH  PETITION, 
filled  the  country  with  paper-money,  and,  which  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten,  boasted,  almost  in  so  many 
words,  that  their  wise  parliament  had  proved  my 
predictions  to  be  false ;  that  I  instantly  answered  this 
boast  by  foretelling  that  their  country-banks  would 
soon  blow  up,  and  that  they  themselves,  if  they  did 
not  take  care,  would  be  blown  to  the  devil ;  that 
they  laughed  at  my  prediction,  but  that,  in  fifteen 
months  from  the  date  of  that  prediction,  panic  seized 
the  system,  the  banks  blew  up,  and  these  men  them- 
selves confessed  that  they  had  brought  us  to  within 
forty-eight  hours  of  barter;  that  this  was  pretty 
good  revenge  on  these  presumptuous,  contumelious, 
arrogant,  and  insolent  men,  and  by  no  means  a  too 
heavy  punishment  for  a  people,  the  then  greater  part 
of  the  rich  amongst  whom  had,  whether  by  words, 
deeds,  or  wishes,  sided  with  these  empty  and  insolent 
men  against  me;  that  in  their  fright  of  1826,  they 


DEDICATION.  7 

passed  the  present  law,  which,  on  the  5th  of  next 
April,  (1829,)  puts  an  end  to  all  notes  under  five 
pounds,  and  that  they,  at  the  same  time,  declared 
they  would  not  reduce  the  interest  of  the  Debt,  and 
that  they  would  keep  up  a  thundering  standing  army 
in  time  of  peace ;  that  I,  while  they  were  passing 
this  bill,  humbly  presented  a  petition,  imploring 
them  not  to  think  of  enforcing  this  new  law  without 
taking  off  one  half  of  the  taxes  ;  for  that,  if  they  did, 
the  most  dreadful  public  calamities  would  ensue ;  that, 
of  course,  this  was  again  enough,  the  law  appears 
to  be  intended  to  be  enforced,  the  taxes  have  not 
been  reduced,  and  the  calamities  are  come  and  are 
coming  in  numbers,  in  magnitude,  and  in  form  that 
seem  to  astound  all  beholders. 

It  has  been  sometimes  asked  why  these  men  in 
power,  and  in  Parliament  too,  (for,  with  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, all  have  acted  alike  in  this  respect,)  should 
have  this  anxious,  and,  apparently,  unnatural  desire 
to  do  nothing  that  might  redound  to  my  credit,  even 
though  for  their  own  evident  ease  and  advantage ; 
and  this  is  a  question  by  no  means  impertinent,  es- 
pecially as  we  see  them  frequently  enough  acknow- 
ledging in  the  most  candid  manner,  their  great  obli- 
gations to  other  writers;  see  their  frequent  practice 
of  bestowing  rewards  and  what  they  call  honours  on 
such  writers ;  nay,  have  seen  them,  in  some  cases, 
admit  them  to  a  participation  in  power.  The  an- 
swer to  this  question  is  this  : — that  they  never  thus 
acted  towards  any  man  who  did  not  approach  them 
as  an  underling  and  a  tool,  who  was  not  mean 
enough  to  abandon  the  assertion  of  his  own  superi- 
ority over  them,  who  was  not  so  base  as  always  to 
speak  of  himself  as  inferior  to  men  whom  he  knew 
to  be  poor  creatures  compared  with  himself.  When 
they  have  found,  as  they  sometimes  have,  men  of 
great  talent  unable  thus  to  bend  to  baseness,  they 
have  used  towards  them  all  the  arts  of  destroying, 
in  which,  sooner  or  later,  they  have  generally  suc- 
ceeded. Unable  to  make  me  bend,  they  have  used 


8  DEDICATION. 

all  these  arts  towards  me  ;  but  they  have  in  this  case, 
used  them  in  vain  ;  and,  in  every  instance,  it  has,  un- 
luckily for  them,  happened,  that  I  put  myself  openly 
at  issue  with  them  upon  one  great  and  all-important 
question,  a  question  which  involved  national  salva- 
tion or  national  ruin,  and  which  question  a  reasonable 
time  was  sure  to  determine. 

That  the  facts  stated  in  the  last  paragraph  but  one, 
are  truths,  is  asserted,  not  by  me  only,  but  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  men  ;  and,  indeed,  they  are  as 
well  known  as  it  is  known  that  this  country  is  called 
England.  Here  we  are,  then,  now  waiting  to  see 
whether  you  will  follow  the  example  of  your  half- 
score  of  predecessors  ;  whether,  to  all  my  former 
triumphs,  I  be  to  add  a  triumph  over  you.  I  tell  you 
distinctly,  that  you  cannot  carry  the  present  law  into 
effect  without  a  great  reduction  of  taxes,  or,  without 
plunging  the  country  into  a  state  of  almost  imme- 
diate commotion;  I  tell  you,  that  you,  without  such 
reduction,  or  without  a  commotion  a  little  more  dis- 
tant, or  without  Bank-restriction,  cannot  repeal  the 
present  law ;  I  tell  you,  that  you  cannot  make  a  Bank- 
restriction  (without  such  reduction,)  without  causing 
a  commotion  not  much  more  distant  ;  and,  finally,  I 
tell  you,  that  there  is  no  remedy,  no  means  of  pre- 
venting a  final  and  terrible  commotion,  except  that 
remedy  which  is  stated  and  prayed  for  in  the  petitions 
of  the  sensible  and  spirited  Counties  of  KENT  and  of 
NORFOLK,  of  the  last  of  which  petitions  (which  is 
more  ample  than  the  former)  I,  for  my  part,  will 
never  give  up  one  single  point. 

So  that,  unless  you  act  upon  my  advice,  and  I  have 
no  reason  to  think  you  will,  here  I  am  at  issue  with 
YOU ;  and,  please  to  observe,  that  the  trial  is  going 
on,  time  must  speedily  give  its  verdict,  and  that  ver- 
dict will  infallibly  be  in  my  favour.  LORD  GREN- 
VILLE  has  put  forth  a  pamphlet,  in  order  to  show,  that 
a  sinking  fund  is  useless  !  He  has  made  this  dis- 
covery rather  late  I  I  have  shown  this  famous 
"  statesman"  up  j  but,  you  ought  to  know,  that  the 


DEDICATION.  9 

uselessness  of  such  a  "/wnd"  is  PROVED  in  this 
work,  proved  beyond  all  contradiction,  and  in  a  man- 
ner so  clear,  that  no  man  but  a  stark  fool,  could,  if 
he  read  the  book,  fail  to  be  convinced,  eighteen  years 
ago,  of  the  uselessness  of  the  thing  called  the  Sink- 
ing- Fund.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  false  and  coolly 
impudent  Scotch  felosofers  pretend,  that  the  disco- 
very was  made,  about  eight  years  ago,  by  a  "  DOCTOR 
HAMILTON  j"  and,  a  brother  "  Doctor"  of  his,  in  Lon- 
don, observed  in  print,  about  four  years  ago,  that  it 
was  "  very  odd,  that  no  one  ever  even  suspected  the 
inefficacy  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  until  Doctor  Hamil- 
ton  wrote  on  the  subject  /"  False  loons  !  Mr. 
PAINE  said,  forty  years  ago,  that  it  was  like  a  man 
with  a  wooden  leg  running  after  a  hare :  I  proved 
the  inefficacy  in  1803  ;  but,  in  this  work,  eighteen 
years  ago,  the  proof  was  made  demonstration.  This 
is  on  the  part  of  the  Scotch,  just  such  another  trick 
as  they  attempted  to  play  in  the  case  of  the  "  IN- 
VINCIBLE STANDARD,"  which  they  claimed 
the  honour  of  having  taken,  but  which  I  proved  to 
have  been  taken  by  a  FRENCHMAN  ! 

To  conclude,  I  do  my  duty  in  here  tendering  you 
a  book  that  will,  if  you  will  attend  to  it,  teach  you 
what  to  do ;  and,  if  you  reject  its  teachings,  this  De- 
dication will  always  be  at  hand  to  be  produced,  when 
the  consequences  of  such  rejection  shall  have  led  to 
the  dreadful,  but  perfectly  natural,  catastrophe.  Re- 
member, that,  during  all  the  years  of  this  struggle 
between  me  and  the  men  in  power,  my  candle  has 
not  been  kept  under  a  bushel  (whether  Winchester 
or  "  Imperial ;")  for  that,  besides  my  weekly  ad- 
monitions, more,  perhaps,  than  a  hundred  thousand 
copies  of  this  one  book  have  been  printed  and  sold ; 
so  that  we  exhibit  to  the  world  this  singular  specta- 
cle :  a  common  people  thoroughly  enlightened  by 
their  reading :  and  an  aristocracy,  a  legislature  and 
a  ministry  resolved  not  to  read,  or,  to  read  for  no 
other  purpose  than  that  of  ascertaining  how  to  shun 
the  light  emanating  from  my  pen.  Time  and  Truth 


10  DEDICATION. 

have,  however,  no  respect  to  persons ;  their  deci- 
sion will  be  impartial,  and  that  decision  is  looked 
forward  to  not  only  with  perfect  confidence,  but 
with  the  most  cordial  delight,  by 

WM.  COBBETT. 


COBBETT'S 

PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD  : 

CONTAINING  THE  HISTORY  AND  MYSTERY  OF  THE 
BANK  OF  ENGLAND,  THE  FUNDS,  THE  DEBT,  THE 
SINKING  FUND,  THE  BANK  STOPPAGE,  THE  LOW- 
ERING AND  THE  RAISING  OF  THE  VALUE  OF  ?APER- 
MONEY  ;  AND  SHOWING,  THAT  TAXATION,  PAUPER- 
ISM, POVERTY,  MISERY,  AND  CRIMES  HAVE  ALL 
INCREASED,  AND  EVER  MUST  INCREASE,  WITH  A 
FUNDING  SYSTEM. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Botley,  8th  February,  1817. 
THE  time  is  now  come,  when  every  man  in  this 
kingdom  ought  to  make  himself,  if  possible,  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  matters  belonging  to  the  Paper- 
Money  System.  It  is  that  System,  which  has  mainly 
contributed  towards  our  present  miseries  ;  and,  in- 
deed, without  that  System  those  miseries  never  could 
have  existed  in  any  thing  approaching  towards  their 
present  degree.  In  all  countries,  where  a  Paper- 
Money,  that  is  to  say,  a  paper  which  could  not,  at 
any  moment,  be  converted  into  Gold  and  Silver,  has 
ever  existed  ;  in  all  countries,  where  this  has  been 
the  case,  the  consequence,  first  or  last,  has  always 
been  great  and  general  misery,  and,  in  most  such 
cases,  such  misery  has  been  productive  of  that  con- 
fusion and  bloodshed,  which  I  most  anxiously  hope 
will  be  prevented,  in  this  instance,  by  timely  mea- 
sures of  a  just  and  conciliatory  character,  and  by 
the  good  sense,  patience,  and  fortitude  of  the  people. 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

To  be  able  clearly  to  trace  our  miseries  to  this 
grand  cause,  the  Bank  and  the  Paper-Money,  it  is 
necessary,  that  we  inquire  into  the  origin  of  money, 
how  it  acts  upon  the  affairs  of  men,  how  prices  de- 
pend upon  its  quantity,  and  how  money  itself  is 
changed  in  its  quantity  and  value.  Next  it  is  neces- 
sary, that  we  come  at  a  clear  idea  of  the  origin  of 
Paper-Money  and  of  its  introduction  into  this  coun- 
try. Next,  we  ought  to  see  the  origin  of  the  Bank 
and  its  Paper ;  to  see  how  Loans  have  been  made, 
and  how,  and  by  what  means,  a  Debt  has  been 
created.  This  compels  us  to  go  back  and  trace  mi- 
nutely the  Bank  and  the  Debt" from  their  fatal  birth 
to  the  present  time  ;  to  show  how  they  arose  both 
together,  and  how  they  have  gone  swelling  moun- 
tains high,  side  by  side,  while  taxes,  pauperism, 
misery,  and  crimes,  have  all  gone  on  increasing  in 
the  same  degree.  We  ought  next  to  inquire  whether 
it  be  possible  to  lessen  the  Debt  by  that  scheme, 
which  has  been  called  the  Sinking  Fund.  Then 
we  ought  to  enter  into  all  the  facts  of  that  curious 
event,  called  the  Bank-Restriction,  which  was  a 
Stoppage  of  Cash-Payments  at  the  Bank,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  Bank  Charter  and  of  the  laws  of  debtor 
and  creditor.  This  transaction  ought  now  to  be 
clearly  understood  by  every  man  in  England.  All 
the  actors  in  the  transaction  ought  to  be  put  forth  in 
their  true  character  ;  for  it  is  to  this  transaction,  that 
we  may  trace  more  immediately  all  those  sudden 
changes  in  the  currency,  which  have  ruined  the  far- 
mers, the  tradesmen,  the  land-owners,  and  which 
have  reduced  the  journeyman  and  labourers  to  such 
intolerable  misery  as  that  which  they  now  endure, 
and  which  never  was  endured  in  England  at  any 
former  period. 

To  enable  every  man,  and  especially  the  youth, 
of  this  country,  to  come  at  a  competent  knowledge 
on  all  these  topics,  was  the  original  object  of  this 
work,  and  is  now  the  object  of  its  republication.  It 
consists  of  a  Series  of  Letters,  addressed  to  the 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

People  of  Salisbury,  in  the  years  1810  and  1811 ; 
because,  at  that  time,  those  people  were  suffering  se- 
verely from  the  failure  of  Country  Banks.  At  the 
same  time,  there  was  a  proposition  before  Parliament 
for  making  the  Bank  pay  in  Gold  and  Silver  at  the 
end  of  two  years.  This  was  proposed  by  the  Oppo- 
sition ;  but  the  Ministers  said,  that  though  the  Bank 
was  able  to  pay,  it  would  not  be  wise  to  make  it  pay, 
till  peace  came.  I  contended,  that,  for  the  Bank  to 
pay  in  gold  and  silver  was  impossible,  without  wi- 
ping away  a  part  of  the  Debt  ;  or  without  plung- 
ing the  country  into  ruin  and  misery.  The  Bank 
does  not  pay ;  and,  by  only  making  one  step  towards 
it,  the  whole  nation,  all  but  fund-holders  and  tax- 
eaters,  have  already  been  ruined. 

In  the  writing  of  this  work  the  greatest  pains  were 
taken  to  make  my  statements  and  my  arguments,  not 
only  as  clear  and  as  strong,  but  also,  as  familiar  as 
possible,  and,  by  these  means,  to  render  a  subject, 
which  has  always  been  considered  as  intricate  and 
abstruse,  so  simple  as  to  be  understood  by  every 
reader  of  common  capacity ;  and,  in  this  object,  I  hope 
I  have  succeeded,  because  I  have  had  the  satisfaction 
to  witness  numerous  instances,  where  persons,  who 
would  generally  be  denominated  illiterate,  have,  by 
the  reading  of  this  work,  become  completely  masters 
of  the  whole  subject. 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  the  pride  of  those,  who 
call  themselves  learned  men,  lead  them  to  misjudge 
greatly  as  to  the  capacity  of  those,  whom  they  call 
the  illiterate,  or  unlearned.  To  arrange  words  into 
sentences  in  a  grammatical  manner,  to  arrive  at  cor- 
rect results  by  the  operations  of  figures,  require  a 
knowledge  of  rules,  which  knowledge  must  be  ac- 
quired by  art ;  but  the  capacity  of  receiving  plain 
facts  and  of  reasoning  upon  those  facts  has  its  na- 
tural place  in  every  sound  mind  ;  and,  perhaps,  the 
mind  the  most  likely  speedily  to  receive  and  deeply 
to  imbibe  a  fair  impression  is  precisely  that  mind 
which  has  never  been  pre-occupied  by  the  impressions 
2 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

of  art  or  of  school-education.  And,  if  there  be  men 
to  hold  the  doctrine,  that  the  people  in  general  ought 
not  to  understand  any  thing  of  these  matters,  such 
men  can  proceed  upon  no  principle  other  than  this, 
that  popular  ignorance  is  the  best  security  for  public 
plunderers  and  oppressors. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  the  Letters,  composing  the 
greater  part  of  this  work,  were  written  in,  and  dated 
from,  the  "  State  Prison,  Newgate"  For  six  years 
before  the  date  of  these  Letters,  I  had  been  endea- 
vouring to  rouse  my  country  to  a  sense  of  its  danger 
from  the  Debt  and  Paper-money,  and  had  often  fore- 
told, that  national  ruin  and  misery  would  be  the  re- 
sult. But,  it  was  while  I  was  shut  up  in  Newgate, 
that  I  made  my  greatest  eifort.  The  cause  of  my 
imprisonment,  and  of  the  other  heavy  punishments 
inflicted  on  me,  is  pretty  well  known ;  but,  as  this 
work  is  chiefly  intended  for  the  use  of  schools  and  of 
young  persons  in  general,  and,  as  I  hope  it  may  be 
read  many  years  after  its  author  will  have  closed  his 
eyes  for  ever,  it  is  no  more  than  justice  to  myself 
and  to  a  family  of  children,  to  whom  their  father's 
character  will  always  be  as  dear  as  their  own  lives, 
for  me  to  make  here,  and  to  send  forth,  inseparable 
from  this  work,  the  following  concise  and  undenia- 
ble record  of  facts,  which  record  was  published  im- 
mediately after  the  expiration  of  my  imprisonment, 
in  the  month  of  July  J812. 

ENGLISH  LIBERTY  OF  THE  PRESS, 

As  illustrated  in  the  Prosecution  and  Punishment  of 

WILLIAM  COBBETT. 

In  order  that  my  countrymen  and  that  the  world 
may  not  be  deceived,  duped,  and  cheated  upon  this 
subject,  I,  WILLIAM  COBBETT,  of  Botley,  in 
Hampshire,  put  upon  record  the  following  facts ;  to 
wit :  That,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1809,  the  following 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

article  was  published  in  a  London  newspaper,  called 
the  COURIER: — "The  Mutiny  amongst  the  LOCAL 
MILITIA,  which  broke  out  at  Ely,  was  fortunately 
suppressed  on  Wednesday,  by  the  arrival  of  four 
squadrons  of  the  GERMAN  LEGION  CAVALRY 
from  Bury,  under  the  command  of  General  Auck- 
land. Five  of  the  ringleaders  were  tried  by  a  Court- 
Martial,  and  sentenced  to  receive  500  lashes  each, 
part  of  which  punishment  they  received  on  Wednes- 
day, and  a  part  was  remitted.  A  stoppage  for  their 
knapsacks  was  the  ground  of  the  complaint  that  ex- 
cited this  mutinous  spirit,  which  occasioned  the  men 
to  surround  their  officers,  and  demand  what  they 
deemed  their  arrears.  The  first  division  of  the  Ger- 
man Legion  halted  yesterday  at  Newmarket  on  their 

return  to  Bury." That,  on  the  1st  of  July,  1309,  I 

published,  in  the  Political  Register,  an  article  cen- 
suring, in  the  strongest  terms,  these  proceedings ; 
that,  for  so  doing,  the  Attorney  General  prosecuted, 
as  seditious  libellers,  and  by  Ex-Officio  Information, 
me,  and  also  my  printer,  my  publisher,  and  one  of 
the  principal  retailers  of  the  Political  Register;  that 
I  was  brought  to  trial  on  the  15th  June,  1810,  and 
was,  by  a  Special  Jury,  that  is  to  say,  by  12  men  out 
of  48  appointed  by  the  Master  of  the  Crown  Office, 
found  guilty  ;  that,  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month,  I 
was  compelled  to  give  bail  for  my  appearance  to  re- 
ceive judgment ;  and  that,  as  I  came  up  from  Botley 
(to  which  place  I  had  returned  to  my  family  and  my 
farm  on  the  evening  of  the  15th,)  a  Tipstaff  went 
down  from  London  in  order  to  seize  me,  personally  ; 
that,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1810,  I,  together  with  my 
printer,  publisher,  and  the  newsman,  were  brought 
into  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  to  receive  judgment ; 
that  -the  three  former  were  sentenced  to  be  impri- 
soned for  some  months  in  the  King's  Bench  prison  ; 
that  I  was  sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  for  two  years 
in  Newgate,  the  great  receptacle  for  malefactors,  and 
the  front  of  which  is  the  scene  of  numerous  hangings 
in  the  course  of  every  year;  that  the  part  of  the  prison 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

in  which  I  was  sentenced  to  be  confined  is  sometimes 
inhabited  by  felons,  that  felons  were  actually  in  it  at 
the  time  I  entered  it ;  that  one  man  was  taken  out  of 
it  to  be  transported  in  about  48  hours  after  I  was  put 
into  the  same  yard  with  him ;  and  that  it  is  the  place 
of  confinement  for  men  guilty  of  unnatural  crimes, 
of  whom  there  are  four  in  it  at  this  time ;  that,  be- 
sides this  imprisonment,  I  was  sentenced  to  pay  a 
thousand  pounds  ($4,800)  TO  THE  KING,  and  to 
give  security  for  my  good  behaviour  for  seven  years, 
myself  in  the  sum  of  3,000  pounds,  and  two  sureties 
in  the  sum  of  1,000  pounds  each  ;  that  the  whole  of 
this  sentence  has  been  executed  upon  me,  that  I  have 
been  imprisoned  the  two  years,  have  paid  the  thou- 
sand pounds  TO  THE  KING,  and  have  given  the 
bail,  Timothy  Brown  and  Peter  Walker,  Esqrs.  being 
my  sureties  ;  that  the  Attorney  General  was  Sir 
Vicary  Gibbs,  the  Judge  who  sat  at  the  trial,  Lord 
Ellenborough,  the  four  Judges  who  sat  at  passing 
sentence,  Eilenborough,  Grose,  Le  Blanc,  and  Bai- 
ley ;  and  that  the  jurors  were,  Thomas  Rhodes  of 
Hampstead  Road,  John  Davis  of  Southampton-place, 
James  Ellis  of  Tottenham  Court  Road,  John  Richards 
of  Bayswater,  Thomas  Marsham  of  Baker  Street, 
Robert  Heathcote  of  High  Street,  Marylebone  ;  John 
Maud  of  York-place,  Marylebone  ;  George  Baxter 
of  Church  Terrace,  Pancras  ;  Thomas  Taylor  of  Red 
Lion  Square  ;  David  Deane  of  St.  John  Street ;  Wil- 
liam Palmer  of  Upper  Street,  Islington  ;  Henry  Favre 
of  Pall-Mall ;  and  that  the  Prime  Ministers  during  the 
time  were  Spencer  Perceval,  until  he  was  shot  by 
John  Bellingham,  and  after  that  Robert  B.  Jenkinson, 
Earl  of  Liverpool ;  that  the  prosecution  and  sentence 
took  place  in  the  reign  of  King  George  the  Third, 
and  that,  he  having  become  insane  during  my  im- 
prisonment, the  1,000  pounds  was  paid  10  his  son, 
the  Prince  Regent,  in  his  behalf;  that,  during  my 
imprisonment,  I  wrote  and  published  364  Essays  and 
Letters  upon  political  subjects  ;  that,  during  the  same 
time  I  was  visited  by  persons  from  197  cities  and 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

towns,  many  of  them  as  a  sort  of  deputies  from  So- 
cieties or  Clubs ;  that,  at  the  expiration  of  my  impri- 
sonment, on  the  9th  of  July,  1812,  a  great  dinner 
was  given  in  London  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
me ;  that  dinners  and  other  parties  were  held  on  the 
same  occasion  in  many  other  places  in  England ; 
that,  on  my  way  home,  I  was  received  at  Alton,  the 
first  town  in  Hampshire,  with  the  ringing  of  the 
Church  bells ;  that  a  respectable  company  met  me 
and  gave  me  a  dinner  at  Winchester ;  that  I  was 
drawn  from  more  than  the  distance  of  a  mile  into 
Botley  by  the  people ;  that,  upon  my  arrival  in  the 
village,  1  found  all  the  people  assembled  to  receive 
me  ;  that  I  concluded  the  day  by  explaining  to  them 
the  cause  of  my  imprisonment,  and  by  giving  them 
clear  notions  respecting  the  flogging  of  the  Local  Mi- 
litia-men at  Ely,  and  respecting  the  employment  of 
German  Troops  ;  and,  finally,  which  is  more  than  a 
compensation  for  my  losses  and  all  my  sufferings,  I 
am  in  perfect  health  and  strength,  and,  though  I 
must,  for  the  sake  of  six  children,  feel  the  diminution 
that  has  been  made  in  my  property  (thinking  it  right 
in  me  to  decline  the  offer  of  a  subscription,)  I  have 
the  consolation  to  see  growing  up  three  sons,  upon 
whose  hearts,  I  trust,  all  these  facts  will  be  engraven. 

WM.  COBBETT. 
Botley,  July  23,  1812. 

At  the  end  of  16  years  of  experience,  I  find  not  a 
word  to  alter. 

WM.  COBBETT. 
Barn-Elm  Farm,  Surrey,  February  20,  1828. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD, 


LETTER  I. 

Appointment  of  the  Bullion  Committee — Main  points  of  tho 
Report — Proposition  for  the  Bank  to  pay  in  two  Years— To 
merit  the  appellation  of  a  Thinking  People,  we  must  show 
that  our  Thinking  produces  Knowledge — Go  hack  into  the 
History  of  Paper- Money — Definition  of  Money— Increase  of 
Paper— What  is  the  cause  of  this  Increase?— Origin  of  the 
Bank  of  England— How  it  came  to  pass  that  so  much  Pa- 
per Money  got  afloat— Increase  of  Bank  Notes  wanted  to 
pay  the  increase  of  the  interest  on  the  National  Debt— Pro- 
gress in  issuing  Bank  Notes  from  20  to  I  pounds — Suspicion 
awakened  in  1797,  which  produced  the  Stoppage  of  Gold 
and  Silver  Payments  at  the  Bank  of  England. 

GENTLEMEN, 

DURING  the  last  session  of  Parliament,  a  Commit- 
tee, that  is  to  say,  ten  or  twelve  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  were  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  cause  of  the  high  price  of  Gold  Bullion,  that  is, 
Gold  not  coined;  and  to  take  into  consideration  the 
state  of  the  circulating  medium,  or  money,  of  this 
country.  This  Committee  have  made  a  Report,  as 
they  call  it;  but,  it  is  a  great  book,  that  they  have 
written,  and  have  had  printed ;  a  book  much  larger 
than  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament.  Of  this 
Report  I  intend  to  enter  into  an  Examination  ;  and, 
as  you  have  recently  felt,  and  are  still  feeling,  some 
of  the  effects  of  Paper-Money,  I  think  it  may  not  be 
amiss,  if,  upon  this  occasion,  I  address  myself  to 
you.  I  have  introduced  myself  to  you  without  anr 
ceremony ;  but,  before  we  part,  we  shall  become  well 
acquainted  ;  and,  I  make  no  doubt,  that  you  will  un- 
derstand the  distinction  between  Paper-Money,  and 
Gold-Money  much  too  well  for  it  to  be  in  the  power 
of  any  one  ever  again  to  deceive  you ;  which  under- 
standing will,  in  the  times  now  fast  approaching,  be 
of  great  utility  to  all  those  amongst  you,  who  may 


20  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

have  the  means  of  laying  up  money,  however  small 
the  quantity  may  be. 

The  Committee  above-mentioned,  which,  for  bre- 
vity's sake,  I  call  the  Bullion  Committee,  sent  for 
several  persons,  whom  they  examined  as  witnesses, 
touching  the  matter  in  question.  There  was  Sir 
FRANCIS  BARING,  for  instance,  the  great  loan-maker, 
and  GOLDSMIDT,  the  rich  Jew,  whose  name  you  so 
often  see  in  the  newspapers,  where  he  is  stated  to 
give  grand  dinners  to  princes  and  great  men.  The 
Evidence  of  these,  and  other  money-dealers  and 
merchants,  the  Bullion  Committee  have  had  printed; 
and,  upon  this  evidence,  as  well  as  upon  the  Report 
itself,  we  shall  have  to  make  some  remarks. 

The  result  of  the  Committee's  inquiries  is,  in  sub- 
stance, this;  that  the  high  price  of  gold  is  occasion- 
ed by  the  low  value  of  the  paper-money;  that  the 
low  value  of  the  paper-money  has  been  occasioned 
(as  you  know  the  low  value  of  apples  is)  by  the  great 
abundance  of  it;  that  the  only  way  to  lower  the  price 
of  the  gold  is  to  raise  the  value  of  the  paper-mo- 
ney, and  that  the  only  way  to  raise  the  value  of  the 
paper-money  is  to  make  the  quantity  of  it  less  than 
it  now  is.  Thus  far,  as  you  will  clearly  see,  there  was 
no  conjuration  required.  The  fact  is,  that,  not  only 
do  these  propositions  contain  well-known,  and  almost 
self-evident  truths;  but,  these  truths  have,  during 
the  last  two  or  three  years,  and  especially  during  the 
last  year,  been  so  frequently  stated  in  print,  that  it 
was  next  to  impossible  that  any  person  in  England, 
able  to  read,  should  have  been  unacquainted  with 
them.  But,  having  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that, 
in  order  to  raise  the  value  of  the  paper-money,  its 
quantity  must  be  lessened;  having  come  to  this 
point,  the  rest  of  the  way  was  more  difficult ;  for,  the 
next  object  was,  to  point  out  the  means  of  lessening 
the  quantity  of  the  paper-money,  and  this  is  an  ob- 
ject, which,  in  my  opinion,  will  never  be  effected, 
unless  those  means  include  the  destruction  of  the 
whole  mass. 

Not  so,  however,  think  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Bui- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  21 

lion  Committee.  They  think,  or  at  least,  they  evi- 
dently wish  to  make  others  think,  that  it  is  possible 
to  lessen  the  quantity  of  the  paper-money,  and  to 
cause  guineas  to  come  back  again  and  to  pass  from 
hand  to  hand  as  in  former  times  ;  they  would  fain 
have  us  believe,  that  this  can  be  done  without  the 
total  destruction  of  the  paper-money ;  and,  indeed, 
they  have  actually  recommended  to  the  House  of 
Commons  to  pass  a  Law  to  cause  the  Bank  in  Thread- 
needle  Street,  London,  commonly  called  the  Bank  of 
England,  to  pay  its  notes  in  real  money,  at  the  END 
OF  TWO  YEARS  from  this  time,  two  years  is 
a  pretty  good  lease  for  people  to  have  of  this  sort. 
This  Bank  promises  to  pay  on  demand.  It  doe* 
this  upon  the  face  of  every  one  of  its  notes  ;  and, 
therefore,  as  a  remedy  for  the  evil  of  want  of  gold, 
to  propose,  that  this  Bank  should  begin  to  pay  in 
two  years'  time,  is  something,  which  I  think,  would 
not  have  been  offered  to  the  public  in  any  age  but 
this,  and,  even  in  this  age.  to  any  public  except  the 
public  in  this  country.  The  notes  of  the  Bank  of 
England  bear,  upon  the  face  of  them,  a  promise  that 
the  Bankers,  or  Bank  company,  who  issue  the  notes, 
will  pay  the  notes  upon  demand.  Now  what  do  we 
mean  by  paying  a  note?  Certainly  we  do  not  mean, 
the  giving  of  one  note  for  another  note.  Yet,  this 
is  the  sort  of  payment,  that  people  get  at  the  Bank 
of  England  ;  and  this  sort  of  payment  the  Bullion 
Committee  does  not  purpose  oven  to  begin  to  put  an 
end  to  in  less  than  two  years  from  this  time. 

Gentlemen ;  we,  the  people  of  this  country,  have 
been  persuaded  to  believe  many  things.  We  have 
been  persuaded  to  believe  ourselves  to  be  "  the  most 
thinking  people  in  Europe  ;"  but  to  what  purpose  do 
men  fhink,  unless  they  arrive  at  useful  knowledge 
by  thinking?  To  what  purpose  do  men  think,  if 
they  are,  after  all  their  thinking,  to  be  persuaded, 
that  a  Bank,  which  has  not  paid  its  promissory  note* 
in  gold  for  thirteen  years  and  a  half,  will  be  able 
to  pay  them  in  gold  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years  and 
a  half,  the  quantity  of  the  notes  having  gone  on  re- 


22  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

gularly  increasing'  ?  If  men  are  to  be  persuaded  to 
believe  this,  to  what  purpose  do  they  think  ?  But, 
before  I  proceed  any  further  in  my  remarks  upon  the 
Report  of  the  Bullion  Committee  ;  before  I  proceed 
to  lay  before  you  the  exposures  now  made  by  the 
labours  of  this  Committee ;  the  facts  now  become 
evident  through  this  channel ;  the  confessions  now 
made  by  these  members  of  the  House  of  Commons : 
before  I  proceed  to  lay  these  before  you,  and  to  re- 
mark upon  the  remedies  proposed  by  the  Committee, 
it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  go  back  into  the  his- 
tory of  the  paper-money;  because,  without  doing 
this,  I  shall  t>e  talking  to  you  of  things,  of  which 
you  will  have  no  clear  notion,  and  the  reasonings, 
relating  to  which,  you  will,  of  course,  not  at  all  un- 
derstand. It  is  a  great  misfortune,  that  any  portion 
of  your  time  should  be  spent  in  reading  or  thinking 
about  matters  of  this  kind  ;  but,  such  is  our  present 
situation  in  this  country,  that  every  man  who  has  a 
family  to  preserve  from  want,  ought  to  endeavour  to 
make  himself  acquainted  with  the  nature,  and  with 
the  probable  consequences,  of  the  paper-money  now 
afloat. 

Money,  is  the  representative,  or  the  token  of  pro- 
perty, or  things  of  value.  The  money,  while  used 
as  money,  is  of  no  other  use ;  and,  therefore,  a  bit  of 
lead  or  of  wood  or  of  leather,  would  be  as  good  as 
gold  or  silver,  to  be  used  as  money.  But,  if  these 
materials,  which  are  every  where  found  in  such 
abundance,  were  to  be  used  as  money,  there  would 
be  so  much  money  made  that  there  would  be  no  end 
to  it ;  and,  besides,  the  money  made  in  one  country 
would,  however  there  enforced  by  law,  have  no  va- 
lue in  any  other  country.  For  these  reasons  Gold 
and  Silver,  which  are  amongst  the  most  scarce  of 
things,  have  been,  by  all  the  nations  that  we  know 
any  thing  of,  used  as  money. 

While  the  money  of  any  country  consists  of  no^ 
thing  but  these  scarce  metals ;  while  it  consists  of 
nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  there  is  no  fear  of  its 
becoming  too  abundant;  but,  if  the  money  of  a 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  23 

country  be  made  of  lead,  tin,  wood,  leather,  or  paper ; 
and  if  any  one  can  make  it,  who  rnay  choose  to  make 
it,  there  needs  no  extraordinary  wisdom  to  foresee, 
that  there  will  be  a  great  abundance  of  this  sort  of 
money,  and  thai  the  gold  and  silver  money,  being,  in 
fact,  no  longer  of  any  use  in  such  a  state  of  things, 
will  go,  either  into  the  hoards  of  the  prudent,  or  into 
the  bags  of  those,  who  have  the  means  of  sending 
or  carrying  them  to  those  foreign  countries  where 
they  are  wanted,  and  where  they  will  bring  their 
value. 

That  a  state  of  things  like  that  here  spoken  of,  does 
now  exist  in  this  country,  is  notorious  to  all  the  world. 
But,  while  we  are  all  acquainted  with  the  fact,  and 
while  many  of  us  are  most  sensibly  feeling  the  effects, 
scarcely  a  man  amongst  us  takes  the  trouble  to  in- 
quire into  the  cause :  yet,  unless  the  cause  be  ascer- 
tained, how  are  we  to  apply,  or  to  judge  of  a  remedy  ? 
We  see  the  country  abounding  with  paper-money ; 
we  see  every  man's  hand  full  of  it ;  we  frequently 
talk  of  it  as  a  strange  thing,  and  a  great  evil  ;  but 
never  do  we  inquire  into  the  cause  of  it. 

There  are  few  of  you  who  cannot  remember  the 
time,  when  there  was  scarcely  ever  seen  a  bank  note 
among  Tradesmen  and  Farmers.  I  can  remember 
when  this  was  the  case ;  and,  when  the  farmers  in 
my  country  hardly  ever  saw  a  bank  note,  except 
when  they  sold  their  hops  at  Weyhill  fair.  People, 
in  those  days,  used  to  carry  little  bags  to  put  their 
money  in,  instead  of  the  paste-board  or  leather  cases 
that  they  now  carry.  If  you  look  back,  and  take  a 
little  time  to  think,  you  will  trace  the  gradual  increase 
of  paper-money,  and  the  like  decrease  of  gold  and 
silver  money.  At  first  there  were  no  bank-notes  un- 
der 20 -pounds;  next  they  came  to  15  pounds;  next 
to  10  pounds :  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  war,  they 
came  to  5  pounds  ;  and,  before  the  end  of  it,  they 
came  down  to  2  and  to  1  pounds.  How  long  it  will 
be  before  they  come  down  to  parts  of  a  pound,  it 
would,  perhaps,  be  difficult  to  say ;  but  in  Kent,  at 
least,  there  are  country  notes  in  circulation  to  an 


24  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

amount  so  low  as  that  of  seven  shillings.  It  is  the 
cause  of  this  that  is  interesting  to  us ;  the  cause  of 
this  change  in  our  money,  and,  in  the  prices  of  goods 
of  all  sorts  and  of  labour.  All  of  you  who  are  forty 
years  of  age  can  remember  when  the  price  of  the 
gallon  loaf  used  to  be  about  ten  pence  or  a  shilling, 
instead  of  two  shillings  and  sixpence  or  two  shillings 
and  ten  pence,  as  it  now  is.  These  effects  strike 
you.  You  talk  of  them  every  day  ;  but  the  cause  of 
them  you  seldom,  if  ever,  either  talk  or  think  of: 
and  it  is  to  this  cause  that  I  am  now  endeavouring 
to  draw  your  attention. 

You  have,  during  the  last  seventeen  years,  seen 
the  quantity  of  paper-money  rapidly  increase ;  or  in 
other  words,  you  have,  day  after  day,  seen  less  and 
less  of  gold  and  silver  appear  in  payments,  and,  of 
course  more  and  more  of  paper-money.  But,  it  was 
not  till  the  year  1797,  thai  the  paper-money  began 
to  increase  so  very  fast.  It  was  then  that  the  two 
and  one  pound  notes  were  first  made  by  the  Bank  of 
England.  It  was  then,  in  short,  that  paper-money 
became  completely  predominant.  But,  you  will  na- 
turally ask  me,  "  What  was  the  cause  of  that  ?n 
The  cause  was,  that  the  Bank  of  England  stopped 
paying  its  notes  in  gold  and  silver.  What  1  stop 
paying  its  notes  ?  Refuse  to  pay  its  promissory 
notes?  The  Bank  of  England,  when  its  notes  were 
presented,  refuse  to  pay  them?  Yes:  and,  what  is 
more,  an  Act  of  Parliament  brought  in  by  Pitt,  was 
passed,  to  protect  the  Bank  of  England  against  the 
legal  consequences  of  such  refusal.  So  that,  the 
people,  who  held  promissory  notes  of  the  Bank,  and 
who  had,  perhaps,  given  gold  or  silver  for  them, 
when  they  went  to  the  Bank  for  payment,  were  told, 
that  they  could  have  no  gold  or  silver,  but  that  they 
might  have  other  notes,  more  paper,  if  they  pleased, 
in  exchange  for  the  paper  they  held  in  their  hands 
Hnd  tendered  for  payment.  From  that  time  to  this, 
the  Act  of  Parliament,  authorizing  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land to  refuse  to  pay  its  notes  in  gold  and  silver, 
kas  been  in  force.  At  first  it  was  passed  for  three 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  25 

months;  next,  till  the  Parliament  should  meet  again ; 
then  it  was  to  last  to  the  end  of  the  war;  then,  when 
peace  came,  it  was  continued  just  for  a  year,  till 
things  should  be  settled  ;  then,  as  things  were  not 
quite  settled,  it  was  continued  till  Parliament  should 
meet  again ;  and,  as  this  present  war  had  begun  by 
that  time,  the  Act  was  made  to  continue  till  six 
months  after  the  next  peace. 

The  reasons  given  upon  the  different  occasions, 
it  will  be  very  material  to  notice :  for,  it  is  this  stop- 
page in  the  payment  of  gold  and  silver  at  the  Bank 
of  England  upon  which  the  whole  question  turns. 
Every  thing  hangs  upon  this,  and,  when  we  come  to 
examine  that  part  of  the  Report  which  treats  of  the 
Bank's  reviving  its  payments  in  gold  and  silver,  we 
shall  find  it  of  great  use  to  us  to  recur  to  the  reasons, 
the  divers,  the  manifold  reasons  that  were  given,  at 
different  times,  for  suspending  those  payments.  Since 
that  suspension  took  place  you  have  seen  the  gold 
and  silver  disappear;  you  have  seen,  the  paper  has 
supplied  the  place  of  gold;  paper-money  makers 
have  set  up  all  over  the  kingdom;  and  might  not 
this  well  happen,  when,  to  pay  paper-money  nothing 
more  than  paper-money  was  required  ?  But  the  rea- 
sons given  for  this  measure  of  suspension ;  the  rea- 
sons given  for  the  passing  of  an  Act  of  Parliament 
to  protect  the  Bank  of  England  against  the  demands 
of  its  creditors  are  seldom  recurred  to,  though,  as  you 
will  presently  see,  without  recurring  to  those  reasons, 
and  without  ascertaining  the  true  cause  of  the  pass- 
ing of  that  Act  of  Parliament,  we  cannot  form  so 
good  a  judgment  relative  to  the  remedy  now  propo- 
sed ;  namely,  that  of  the  Bank  of  England's  revi- 
ving its  payments  in  gold  and  silver.  This  is  the 
remndy,  which  the  Bullion  Committee  propose ;  and, 
you  will  say,  a  very  good  remedy  it  is ;  a  very  good 
remedy,  indeed ;  for  people  who  have,  for  so  long  a 
time,  not  paid  their  notes  in  gold  and  silver,  to  begin 
to  pay  their  notes  in  gold  and  silver,  is  a  very  good 
remedy ;  but,  the  thing  to  ascertain,  is,  can  the  reme- 
dy be  applied  ?  This  is  the  question  for  us  to  discuss. 
3 


26  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

It  required  nobody  to  tell  us,  that  paying  in  gold  and 
giloer  would  be  an  effectual  remedy  for  the  evils  ari- 
sing from  not  paying  in  gold  and  silver;  but,  it  re- 
quired much  more  than  I  have  yet  heard  to  convince 
me,  that  to  pay  again  in  gold  and  silver  was  possible. 

The  chief  object  of  our  inquiries  being  this  :  Whe- 
ther it  be  possible,  without  a  total  destruction  of 
the  paper-money  system,  to  restore  gold  and  silver 
to  circulation  amongst  us  ;  this  being  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  our  inquiries,  we  should  first  ascertain  how 
the  gold  and  silver  was  driven  out  of  circulation, 
and  had  its  place  supplied  by  paper-money  ;  for,  un- 
less we  get  at  a  clear  view  of  this,  it  will  be  next  to 
impossible  for  us  to  reason  satisfactorily  upon  the 
means  of  bringing  gold  and  silver  back  again  into 
Circulation. 

Some  people  suppose,  that  paper  always  made  a 
part  of  the  currency,  or  common  money,  of  England. 
They  seem  to  regard  the  Bank  of  England  as  being 
as  old  as  the  Church  of  England,  at  least,  and  some 
of  them  appear  to  have  full  as  much  veneration  for  it. 
The  truth  is,  however,  that  the  Bank  of  England  is  a 
mere  human  institution,  arising  out  of  causes  having 
nothing  miraculous,  or  supernatural,  about  them  ; 
and  that  both  the  institution  and  the  agents  who 
carry  it  on,  are  as  mortal  as  any  other  thing  and  any 
ether  men,  in  this  or  in  any  other  country.  THE 
BANK,  as  it  is  called,  had  its  origin  in  the  year  1694, 
that  is,  a  hundred  and  sixteen  years  ago  ;  and  it  arose 
thus :  the  then  King,  WILLIAM  III.,  who  had  come 
from  Holland,  had  begun  a  war  against  France,  and, 
wanting  money  to  carry  it  on,  an  Act  was  passed 
(which  Act  was  the  20th  of  the  5th  year  of  his  reign) 
to  invite  people  to  make  voluntary  advances  to  the 
Government  of  the  sum  of  1,500,000  pounds,  and  for 
securing  the  payment  of  the  interest,  and  also  for  se- 
curing the  re-payment  of  the  principal,  tajres  were 
laid  upon  beer,  ale,  and  other  liquors.  Upon  condi- 
tion of  1,20(),000/.  of  this  money  being  advanced, 
within  a  certain  time,  the  subscribers  to  the  loan 


PAPER    AGAINST    GOLD.  27 

were  to  be  incorporated  ;  and,  as  the  money  was  ad- 
vanced in  due  time,  the  incorporation  took  place, 
and  the  lenders  of  the  money  were  formed  into  a  tra- 
ding Company,  called,  "  THE  GOVERNOR  AND  COM- 
PANY OF  THE  BANK  OF  ENGLAND."  Out  of  this,  and 
other  sums  borrowed  by  the  Government  in  the  way 
of  mortgage  upon  the  taxes,  there  grew  up  a  thing 
called  the  Stocks,  or  the  Funds  (of  which  we  will 
speak  hereafter  ;)  but  the  Bank  Company  remained 
under  its  primitive  name,  and  as  the  debt  of  the  na- 
tion increased,  this  Company  increased  in  riches 
and  in  consequence. 

Thus,  you  see,  and  it  is  well  worthy  of  your  at- 
tention, the  Bank  had  its  rise  in  war  and  taxation. 
But,  we  must  reserve  reflections  of  this  sort  for  other 
occasions,  and  go  on  with  our  inquiries  how  gold 
and  silver  have  been  driven  out  of  circulation  in 
this  country,  or,  in  other  words,  how  it  came  to  pass 
that  so  much  paper-money  got  afloat. 

The  Act  of  Parliament,  which  I  have  just  referred 
to,  points  out  the  manner  in  which  the  Bank  Com- 
pany shall  carry  on  their  trade,  and  the  articles  in 
which  they  shall  trade,  allowing  them,  amongst  other 
things,  to  trade  in  gold,  silver,  bills  of  exchange,  and 
other  things,  under  certain  restrictions  ;  but,  as  to 
what  are  called  bank-notes,  the  Company  was  not 
empowered  to  issue  any  such,  in  any  other  way,  or 
upon  any  other  footing,  than  merely  as  promissory 
notes,  for  the  amount  of  which,  in  the  coin  of  the 
country,  they  were  liable  to  be  sued  and  arrested. 
Having,  however,  a  greater  credit  than  any  other  in- 
dividuals, or  company  of  individuals,  the  Bank  Com- 
pany issued  notes  to  a  greater  amount ;  and,  which 
was  something  new  in  England,  they  were  made 
payable,  not  to  any  particular  person,  or  his  order  ^ 
and  not  at  any  particular  time  ;  but  to  the  bearer, 
and  on  demand.  These  characteristics,  which  dis- 
tinguished the  promissory  notes  of  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land from  all  other  promissory  notes,  gave  the  people 
greater  confidence  in  them ;  and,  as  the  Bank  Coin- 


28  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

pany  were  always  ready  to  pay  the  notes  in  Gold  and 
Silver,  when  presented  for  payment,  the  notes  be- 
came, in  time,  to  be  looked  upon  as  being  as  good  as 
gold  and  silver.  Hence  came  our  country  sayings : — 
"  As  good  as  the  Bank  ;"  "  As  solid  as  the  Bank  ;" 
and  the  like.  Yet,  the  Bank  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
merely  a  company  of  mortal  men,  formed  into  an  as- 
sociation of  traders ;  and  their  notes  nothing  more 
than  written  promises  to  pay  the  bearer  so  much 
money  in  gold  or  silver. 

We  used  to  have  other  sayings  about  the  Bank, 
such  as  "  As  rich  as  the  Bank  ;"  "  All  the  gold  in 
the  Bank  ;"  and  such  like,  always  conveying  a  no- 
tion, that  the  Bank  was  a  place,  and  a  place,  too, 
where  there  were  great  heaps  of  money.  As  long 
as  the  Company  were  ready  and  willing  to  pay,  and 
did  actually  pay,  their  notes  in  gold  and  silver,  to 
all  those  persons  who  wished  to  have  gold  and  silver, 
it  is  clear  that  these  opinions  of  the  people,  relative  to 
the  Bank,  were  not  altogether  unfounded  ;  for,  though 
no  bit  of  paper,  or  of  any  thing  which  has  no  value 
in  itself,  can  be,  in  fact,  so  good  as  a  bit  of  gold : 
still,  if  it  will,  at  any  moment,  whenever  the  holder 
pleases,  bring  him  gold  or  silver  to  the  amount  writ- 
ten upon  it,  it  is  very  nearly  as  good  as  gold  and 
silver;  and,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing, this  was  the  case  with  the  promissory  notes 
of  the  Bank  Company.  But,  it  must  be  evident, 
thaJt,  though  the  Company  were  ready,  at  the  time 
now  referred  to,  to  pay  their  notes  in  gold  and 
silver,  they  had  never  in  their  money-chests  a  suf- 
ficiency of  gold  and  silver  to  pay  off  all  their  notes, 
if  they  had  been  presented  all  at  once.  This 
must  be  evident  to  every  man ;  because,  if  the 
Bank  Company  kept  locked  up  as  much  gold  and 
silver  as  their  notes  amounted  to,  they  could  get 
nothing  by  issuing  their  notes,  and  might  full  as 
well  have  sent  out  their  gold  and  silver.  A  far- 
mer, for  instance,  who  is  generally  using  a  hun- 
dred pounds  of  money  to  pay  his  workmen,  might 


PAPER    AGAINST   GOLD.  29 

Jend  the  hundred  pounds  and  get  interest  for  it,  if  he 
could  persuade  his  workmen  to  take  promissory  notes 
of  his  own  drawing,  instead  of  money,  and,  if  he  were 
sure  that  these  promissory  notes  would  not  be  brought 
in  for  payment;  but,  if  this  was  not  the  case,  he  would 
be  compelled  to  keep  the  hundred  pounds  in  his  drawer 
ready  to  give  to  those  who  did  not  like  to  keep  his 
promissory  notes  ;  and,  in  such  case,  it  is  clear,  that 
the  money  would  be  of  no  use  to  him,  and  that  he 
might  full  as  well  have  none  of  his  notes  out. 

Just  so  with  the  Bank  Company,  who,  at  no  time, 
could  have  in  hand  gold  and  silver  enough  to  pay  off 
all  their  notes  at  once  ;  nor  was  this  necessary  as 
long  as  the  people  regarded  those  notes  as  being 
equally  good  with  gold  and  silver.  But,  it  is  clear, 
that  this  opinion  of  the  goodness  of  the  Company's 
notes,  or  rather,  the  feeling  of  confidence,  or,  still 
more  properly  perhaps,  the  absence  of  all  suspicion, 
with  respect  to  them,  must,  in  a  great  degree,  de- 
pend upon  the  quantity  of  notes  seen  in  circulation, 
compared  with  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  seen 
in  circulation.  At,  first,  the  quantity  of  notes  was 
very  small  indeed ;  the  increase  of  this  quantity  was, 
for  the  first  twenty  years,  very  slow ;  and,  though  it 
became  more  rapid  in  the  next  twenty  years,  the 
quantity  does  not  appear  to  have  been  large  till  the 
war  which  took  place  in  1755,  before  which  time  the 
Bank  Company  put  out  no  notes  under  20  pounds  in 
amount.  Then  it  was  that  they  began  to  put  out  15 
pound  notes,  and  afterwards,  but  during  the  same 
war,  10  pound  notes.  During  all  this  time,  loans, 
in  every  war,  had  been  made  by  the  Government. 
That  is  to  say,  the  Government  had  borrowed  money 
of  individuals,  in  the  same  way  as  above-mentioned, 
in  the  year  1694.  The  money  thus  borrowed  was 
never  paid  off,  but  was  suffered  to  remain  at  in- 
terest, and  was,  as  it  is  now  called,  the  NATIONAL 
DEBT,  the  interest  upon  which  is  annually  paid  out 
of  the  taxes  raised  upon  the  people.  As  this  debt 
went  on  increasing,  the  bank-notes  went  on  in- 
3* 


30  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

creasing,  as,  indeed,  it  is  evident  they  must,  see- 
ing that  the  interest  of  the  debt  was,  as  it  still 
is  and  must  be,  paid  in  bank-notes.  Why  not  pay 
it  in  gold  ? 

It  is  not  simply  the  quantity  of  bank-notes  that  are 
put  into  circulation,  which  will  excite  alarm  as  to 
their  solidity ;  but,  it  is  that  quantity,  if  it  be  great, 
compared  with  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver, 
seen  in  circulation.  If,  as  the  bank-notes  increased, 
the  circulating  gold  and  silver  had  increased  in  the 
same  proportion  ;  then,  indeed,  bank-notes  would 
still  have  retained  their  usual  credit :  people  would 
still  have  had  the  same  confidence  in  them.  But, 
this  could  not  be.  From  the  nature  of  things  it 
could  not  be.  The  cause  of  the  increase  of  the 
bank-notes,  was,  the  increase  of  the  interest  upon 
the  National  Debt ;  and,  as  it  grew  out  of  an  ope- 
ration occasioned  by  poverty,  it  would  have  been 
strange  indeed  had  it  been  accompanied  with  a  cir- 
cumstance, which  would  have  been  an  infallible  in- 
dication of  riches. 

Without,  however,  stopping  here  to  inquire  into 
the  cause  of  the  coin's  not  increasing  with  the  in- 
crease of  paper,  suffice  it  to  say,  that  such  was  the 
fact.  Year  after  year  we  saw  more  of  bank-notes 
and  less  of  gold  and  silver ;  till,  in  time,  such  was 
the  quantity  of  bank-notes  required  to  meet  the  pur- 
poses of  gold  and  silver  in  the  payment  of  the  inte- 
rest of  the  still-increasing  debt,  and  in  the  payment 
of  the  taxes,  that  many  other  banks  were  opened, 
and  they  also  issued  their  promissory  notes.  The 
Bank  Company's  notes,  which  had  never  before  been 
made  for  less  sums  than  10  pounds,  were,  soon  after 
the  beginning  of  PITT'S  war,  in  1793,  issued  for  five 
pounds,  after  which  it  was  not  to  be  supposed,  that 
people  could  have  the  same  opinion  of  bank-notes 
that  they  formerly  had.  Every  part  of  the  people, 
except  the  very  poorest  of  them,  now,  occasionally, 
at  least,  possessed  bank-notes.  Rents,  salaries,  yearly 
wages,  all  sums  above  five  pounds,  were  now  paid  in 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  31 

bank-notes ;  and,  the  Government  itself  was  now 
paid  its  taxes  in  this  same  sort  of  currency. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  it  was  quite  impossible 
that  people  should  not  begin  to  perceive,  that  gold 
and  silver  was  better  than  bank-notes  ;  and  that  they 
should  not  be  more  desirous  of  possessing  the  former 
than  the  latter  ;  and,  the  moment  this  is  the  case,  the 
banking  system  must  begin  to  tremble  ;  for,  as  the 
notes  are  payable  to  the  bearer,  and  payable  on  de- 
mand, it  is  very  certain,  that  no  man,  with  such  a 
preference  in  his  mind,  will  keep  in  his  possession 
a  bank-note,  unless  we  can  suppose  a  man  so  absurd 
as  to  keep  a  thing,  of  the  goodness  of  which  he  has 
a  suspicion,  while,  for  merely  opening  his  mouth  or 
stretching  forth  his  hand,  he  can  exchange  it  for  a 
thing  of  the  same  nominal  value,  and  of  the  good- 
ness of  which  it  is  impossible  for  him  or  any  one  else 
to  entertain  any  suspicion.  "  Public  Credit,"  as  it 
has  been  called,  but,  as  it  may  more  properly  be 
called,  "  The  credit  of  bank-notes"  has  been  em- 
phatically denominated,  "  SUSPICION  ASLEEP."  In 
the  midst  of  events  like  those  of  1793  and  the  years 
immediately  succeeding  ;  in  the  midst  of  circumstan- 
ces like  those  above-mentioned,  relating  to  the  bank- 
notes, it  was  impossible  that  SUSPICION  should  sleep 
any  longer.  The  putting  forth  of  the  5  pound  bank- 
notes appears  to  have  roused  it,  and,  in  the  month  of 
February,  1797,  it  became  broad  awake.  The  stop- 
page of  payment  on  the  part  of  the  Bank  Company 
was  the  immediate  consequence ;  but,  a  particular  ac- 
count, of  that  important  event,  which  totally  changed 
the  nature  of  all  our  money  transactions,  and  which 
will,  in  the  end,  produce,  in  all  human  probability, 
effects  of  the  most  serious  nature,  must  be  the  sub- 
ject of- a  future  Letter.  In  the  mean  while  I  am, 
Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  30th  Aug.  1810. 


32  PAPER    AGAINST   GOLD. 


LETTER  II. 

What  are  the  Funds  and  Stocks  and  National  Debt?— Ne- 
cessity of  clearly  understanding  what  these  words  mean — 
Meaning  of  them—Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  the  Funds 
and  Debt— The  English  Revolution— Act  of  Parliament,  4th 
William  III.  Cap.  3,  begins  the  Funding  and  Debt  System — 
First  Loan  to  Government— Nature  of  Funds  and  Stocks 
and  National  Debt — Explanation  of  how  "  Money  is  put  in 
the  Funds" — Illustration  in  the  case  of  Messrs.  Muckworm 
and  Company,  and  that  of  Farmer  Greenhorn— The  Funds 
shown  to  be  NO  PLACE,  nor  any  thing  of  a  mystical  nature. 

GENTLEMEN, 

HAVING,  in  the  foregoing  letter,  taken  a  sketch 
of  the  History  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  of  its 
Notes,  from  their  origin  down  to  the  time  when  that 
Bank  stopped  paying  its  notes  in  gold  and  silver , 
the  next  thing  to  do  in  our  regular  course  of  proceed- 
ing, will  be  to  inquire  into,  and  clearly  ascertain, 
the  cause  of  that  stoppage  ;  for  it  is  very  evident, 
that  without  ascertaining  this  cause,  we  shall  not 
be  able  to  come  to  any  thing  like  a  decided  opinion 
with  regard  to  our  main  question  namely,  WHETHER 

THERE  BE  ANY  PROBABILITY  THAT  THIS  BANK  WILL  BE 
ABLE  TO  RETURN  TO  THEIR  PAYMENTS  IN  GOLD  AND 

SILVER,  in  which  question  every  man  of  us,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  is  so  deeply  interested. 

But,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  stop  a  little  where  we 
are,  and  not  go  on  any  further  with  our  inquiries  into 
the  cause  of  the  stoppage  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
until  we  have  taken  time  to  look  a  little  at  the 
FUNDS  and  the  NATIONAL  DEBT.  These  are 
words  which  are  frequently  made  use  of;  but,  like 
many  other  words,  they  stand  for  things  which  are 
little  understood,  and  the  less,  perhaps,  because  the 
words  are  so  very  commonly  used.  As  in  the  in- 
stance of  Shrove  Tuesday  or  Shrovetide,  words 
which  we  all,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  make 
use  of;  but  as  to  their  meaning,  we  content  our- 
selves with  supposing,  (or  appearing  to  suppose,) 
that  they  contain  a  commandment  for  us  to  eat  Frit- 
ters and  Pancakes,  and  to  murder  poor  unoffending 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  33 

cocks ;  whereas  they  mean,  the  Tuesday,  or  the  time 
for  going  to  confess  our  sins  to,  and  to  get  abso- 
lution from  the  Priests ;  to  shrive,  being  a  word 
equal  in  meaning  to  to  confess,  and  shrove,  to  con- 
fessed ;  and  the  use  of  them  in  the  case  here  men- 
tioned having  been  handed  down  to  us  from  the 
days  of  our  forefathers  when  the  Catholic  worship 
was  the  worship  of  the  country. 

Monstrous,  however,  as  is  the  perversion  of  the 
meaning  of  words,  in  this  instance,  it  is  scarcely 
more  so  than  in  the  case  of  the  Funds  and  the  A"a- 
tional  Debt;  but,  there  is  this  very  important  dif- 
ference in  the  two  cases ;  that,  while,  in  the  former, 
the  perversion  is  attended  with  no  mischief  either  to 
individuals,  or  to  the  nation,  in  the  latter,  it  is  attended 
with  great  mischief  to  both ;  with  the  ruin  and  mi- 
sery of  many  a  thousand  of  widows  and  orphans, 
and  with  woes  unnumbered  to  the  nation  at  large. 
But,  if  a  right  understanding  of  the  meaning  of  these 
words  be,  in  all  cases  where  words  are  used,  of  some 
consequence,  it  is  of  peculiar  consequence  here,  where, 
as  may  have  been  gathered  from  the  preceding  letter, 
we  shall  find  the  Funds,  the  Stocks,  and  the  Na- 
tional Debt,  to  be  so  closely  interwoven  with  the 
Bank  Notes,  as  to  be  quite  inseparable  therefrom  in 
every  possible  state  or  stage  of  their  existence. 

The  word  FUND  means,  a  quantity  of  money 
put  or  collected  together.  The  word  STOCK,  as 
applied  to  such  matters,  has  the  same  meaning. 
Both  words  may  admit  of  meanings  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  this  ;  but  this  is  the  meaning  which  plain 
men  commonly  give  to  these  words ;  and  it  is,  too, 
the  fair  and  sensible  meaning  of  them.  Now,  we 
shall  presenly  see,  in  what  degree  this  meaning  be- 
longs to  what  are  commonly  called  the  Funds,  or 
the  Stocks,  into  the  origin  and  progress  of  which,  we 
are  now  going  to  inquire  ;  and,  an  inquiry  it  is, worthy 
of  the  undivided  attention  of  every  true  Englishman ; 
every  man  who  wishes  to  see  the  country  of  his  fore- 
fathers preserved  from  ruin  and  subjugation. 


&4  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

Soon  after  the  ENGLISH  REVOLUTION  ;  that  is  to 
say,  soon  after  our  ancestors  had  driven  away  King 
James  the  Second,  and  had  brought  over  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  made  him  king  in  his  stead,  and  had, 
at  the  same  time,  taken  measures  for  stripping  the 
family  of  Stuart  of  the  crown  for  ever,  and  putting 
it  upon  the  heads  of  His  present  Majesty's  family  ; 
soon  after  this  Revolution,  the  existence  of  Funds, 
Stocks,  and  a  National  Deht  began,  under  the  auspi- 
ces of  that  same  Prince  of  Orange,  who  was  then 
become  our  King  William  III.,  and  who  appears  to 
have  lost  but  very  little  time  in  discovering  the  effect- 
ual way  of  obtaining  money  from  the  English,  with- 
out resorting,  as  the  Stuarts  had,  to  those  means,  the 
use  of  which  had,  ever  and  anon,  excited  commo- 
tions against  them  ;  which  had  brought  one  of  them 
to  the  scaffold  ;  and  which,  at  last,  after  driving 
another  from  the  land,  had  for  ever  stripped  them 
of  their  crown.  The  real  motives  for  creating  a 
National  Debt  we  shall,  by-and-by,  perhaps,  have 
occasion  to  notice ;  but,  at  present,  our  business  is 
to  get  at  a  clear  notion  of  the  way  in  which  it  was 
created. 

William  the  Third  was  hardly  seated  upon  the 
throne  before  a  war  was  begun  against  France,  and, 
in  the  4th  year  of  his  reign,  being  the  year  1692,  an 
Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  imposing  "  Certain 
rates  and  duties  upon  beer,  ale,  and  other  liquors, 
for  securing  certain  Recompenses  and  Advantages 
in  the  said  Act  mentioned,  to  such  Persons  as  shall 
voluntarily  advance  the  sum  of  Ten  Hundred  Thou- 
sand Pounds  towards  carrying  on  the  War  against 
France."  This  is  the  Title  of  the  Act,  being  Chap 
ter  3d  of  the  4th  year  of  William  and  Mary. 
These  are  the  very  words  ;  and  fatal  words  they 
were  to  England. 

In  the  body  of  this  Act  it  is  enacted,  that  the  per- 
sons, who  shall  advance  the  million  of  pounds,  shall, 
out  of  the  rates  and  duties  imposed  by  the  Act,  re- 
ceive a  certain  inter est,  or  annual  payment,  for  the 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  35 

use  of  the  money  so  advanced.  They  were  to  have, 
and  they  had,  their  money  secured  to  them  by  way 
of  annuity  for  life  or  lives ;  and,  they  were  to 
have  certain  advantages  in  cases  of  survivorship ; 
and  the  annuities  were  to  be  redeemed  upon  certain 
conditions  and  at  certain  times.  But,  it  will  be  quite 
useless  for  us  to  load  our  subject  with  a  multitude 
of  words,  and  to  ring  the  changes  upon  all  the  quaint 
terms,  which,  as  appertaining  to  these  matters,  have, 
one  would  think,  been  made  use  of  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  that  of  confusing  the  understandings  of 
plain  men.  The  light  wherein  to  view  the  transac- 
tion is  this :  The  Government  was  (no  matter  how, 
or  from  what  cause)  got  into  a  war  with  France ; 
and,  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  pushing  on  this  Avar 
with  u  vigour"  (it  is  odd  enough  that  the  very  word 
was  made  use  of,  just  as  it  is  now)  they  borrowed 
a  million  of  pounds  of  individuals,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  imposed  taxes  upon  the  whole  nation  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  the  interest  of  the  money  so  bor- 
rowed ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  nat;on's  taxes  were 
mortgaged  to  the  lenders  of  this  million  of  pounds. 
The  lenders  of  the  money,  who,  in  time,  became 
to  be  called  fund  holders  or  stock  holders,  did,  as 
the  work  of  lending  and  fund-making  advanced, 
make  their  loans  in  various  ways,  and  the  bargains 
between  them  and  the  Government  were  of  great 
variety  in  their  terms,  and  in  the  denominations 
made  use  of;  but,  it  was  always  the  same  thing  in 
effect :  the  government  borrowed  the  money  of  in- 
dividuals, it  mortgaged  taxes  for  the  payment  of  the 
interest ;  and  those  individuals  received  for  their 
money,  promises,  or  engagements,  no  matter  in  what 
shape,  which  enabled  them  to  demand  annually, 
half-yearly,  or  quarterly,  the  share  of  interest  due  to 
each  of  them ;  and  any  single  parcel  of  interest,  so 
received,  is  what  is,  in  the  queer  language  of  the 
funding  trade,  called  a  "dividend."  No  matter, 
however,  what  the  thing  is  called ;  no  matter  how 
many  nick-names  they  choose  to  give  to  the  several 


36  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

branches  of  the  Debt.  We  daily  see,  in  the  news- 
papers, what  is  called  the  "  PRICE  OF  STOCKS," 
as  in  the  following  statement,  which  is  in  all  the 
newspapers  of  this  day  : — 

Bank  Stock  257  5$ 

3  per  Cent.  Red.  68£  f  f  £ 

3  per  Cent.  Con.  67f  8  7$ 

4  per  Cent.  85  4£  5-J-  4  f 

5  per  Cent.  Navy  99f  £  \  -f 
Long  Annuities  18^- 
Omnium  2  -f-  -f-  dis. 
Excheq.  Bills  1  dis.  5  prem. 
Bank  Stock  for  open  257£ 
Consols  for 68  £  i  f 

These  are  names,  which  the  dealers,  or  job- 
bers, in  Stocks  give  to  the  several  classes  of  them. 
But,  as  I  said  before,  let  us  avoid  confusing  our  heads 
with  this  worse  than  Babylonish  collection  of  names, 
or  sounds,  and  keep  fully  and  clearly  and  constantly 
in  our  sight,  these  plain  facts :  FIRST,  that  the  Funds, 
the  Stocks,  and  the  National  Debt,  all  mean  one 
and  the  same  thing;  SECONDLY,  that  this  Debt  is 
made  up  of  the  Principal  money  lent  to  the  Go- 
vernment at  different  times  since  the  beginning  of 
the  thing  in  1692 ;  THIRDLY,  that  the  Interest  upon 
this  principal  money  is  paid  out  of  the  taxes ;  and, 
FOURTHLY,  that  those  persons  who  are  entitled  to  re- 
ceive this  interest,  are  what  we  call  fund-holders, 
or  stock-holders,  or,  according  to  the  more  common 
notion  and  saying,  have  " money  in  the  Funds" 

Being  here  in  the  elementary,  the  mere  horn-book 
part  of  our  subject,  we  cannot  make  the  matter  too 
clear  to  our  comprehension ;  and,  we  ought,  by  no 
means,  to  go  a  step  further  till  we  have  inquired  into 
the  sense  of  this  saying  about  people's  "having 
money  in  the  Funds  /"  from  which  any  one,  who 
did  not  understand  the  thing,  would  naturally  con- 
clude, that  the  person  who  made  use  of  the  saying, 
looked  upon  the  Funds,  as  a  place,  where  a  great 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver  was  kept  locked  up  in 
safety.  Nor,  would  such  conclusion  be  vprv  <>~r*- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  37 

neous  ;  for,  generally  speaking,  the  notion  of  the 
people  of  this  country  is,  that  the  Funds  or  the 
Stocks  (they  are  made  use  of  indiscriminately)  is  a 
PLACE,  where  money  is  kept.  A  place,  indeed, 
of  a  sort  of  mysterious  existence  ;  a  sort  of  financial 
Ark;  a  place  not,  perhaps,  to  be  touched, 'or  even 
seen  ;  but,  still  the  notion  is,  that  of  a  place,  and  a 
place,  too,  of  more  than  mortal  security. 

Alas !  the  Funds  are  no  place  at  all  !  and,  indeed, 
how  should  they,  seeing  that  they  are,  in  fact,  one 
and  the  same  thing  with  the  National  Debt?  But, 
to  remove,  from  the  mind  of  every  creature,  all  doubt 
upon  this  point ;  to  dissipate  the  mists  in  which  we 
have  so  long  been  wandering,  to  the  infinite  amusement 
of  those  who  invented  these  terms,  let  us  take  a  plain 
common-sense  view  of  one  of  these  loaning  transac- 
tions. Let  us  suppose,  then,  that  the  Government 
wants  a  loan,  that  is,  wants  to  borrow  money ',  to  the 
amount  of  a  million  of  pounds.  It  gives  out  its  wishes 
to  this  effect,  and,  after  the  usual  ceremony  upon  such 
occasions,  the  loan  is  made,  that  is,  the  money  is  lent, 
by  Messrs.  Muckworm  and  Company.  We  shall 
see,  by-and-by,  when  we  come  to  talk  more  fully 
upon  the  subject  of  loans,  what  sort  of  a  way  it  is, 
in  which  Muckworm  pays  in  the  money  so  lent,  and 
in  what  sort  of  money  it  is  that  he  pays.  But,  for 
the  sake  of  simplicity  in  our  illustration,  we  will 
suppose  him  to  pay  in  real  good  money,  and  to  pay 
the  whole  million  himself  at  once.  Well :  what 
does  Muckworm  get  in  return  ?  Why,  his  name  is 
written  in  a  book ;  against  his  name  is  written, 
that  he  is  entitled  to  receive  interest  for  a  million 
of  money;  which  book  is  kept  at  the  Bank  Com- 
pany's house,  or  shop,  in  Threadneedle  Street,  Lon- 
don. And,  thus  it  is  that  Muckworm  "puts  a  mil- 
lion of  money  into  i  the  Funds?  "  "  Well,"  you  will 
say,  "  but  what  becomes  of  the  money  ?"  Why,  the 
Government  expends  it,  to  be  sure :  what  should  be- 
come of  it  ?  Very  few  people  borrow  money  for  the 
purpose  of  locking  it  up  in  their  drawers  or  chests. 
"What?  then  the  money  all  vanishes;  and  w>- 
4 


38  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

thing  remains  in  lieu  of  it  but  the  lenders  name 
written  in  a  book?"  Even  so:  and  this,  my  good 
neighbours,  is  the  way,  that  "  money  is  put  into  the 
Funds." 

But,  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  transaction 
remains  to  be  described.  Muckworm,  who  is  as  wise, 
as  he  is  rich,  takes  special  care  not  to  be  a  fund-holder 
himself ;  and,  as  is  always  the  case,  he  loses  no  time 
in  selling  his  stock,  that  is  to  say,  his  right  to  re- 
ceive the  interest  of  the  million  of  pounds.  These 
Funds,  or  Stocks,  as  we  have  seen,  have  no  bodily 
existence,  either  in  the  shape  of  money  or  of  bonds 
or  of  certificates  or  of  any  thing  else  that  can  be  seen 
or  touched.  They  have  a  being  merely  in  name. 
They  mean,  in  fact,  a  right  to  receive  interest; 
and,  a  man,  who  is  said  to  possess,  or  to  have  a 
thousand  pounds'  worth  of  stock,  possesses  in 
reality,  nothing  but  the  right  of  receiving  the  inte- 
rest oja  thousand  pounds.  When,  therefore,  Muck- 
worm sells  his  millions'  worth  of  stock,  he  sells  the 
right  of  receiving  the  interest  upon  the  million  of 
pounds  which  he  lent  to  the  Government.  But,  the 
way  in  which  sales  of  this  sort  are  effected  is  by  par- 
celling the  stock  out  to  little  purchasers,  every  one 
of  whom  buys  as  much  as  he  likes ;  he  has  his  name 
written  in  the  book  for  so  much,  instead  of  the  name 
Muckworm  and  Company  ;  and,  when  Muckworm 
has  sold  the  whole,  his  name  is  crossed  out,  and  the 
names  of  the  persons,  to  whom  he  has  sold,  remain 
in  the  book. 

And,  here  it  is  that  the  thing  comes  home  to 
our  very  bosoms  ;  for,  our  neighbour,  farmer  Green- 
horn, who  has  all  his  life  been  working  like  a  horse, 
in  order  to  secure  his  children  from  the  perils  of  po- 
verty, having  first  bequeathed  his  farm  to  his  son, 
sells  the  rest  of  his  property  (amounting  to  a  couple 
of  thousands  of  pounds,)  and,  with  the  real  good 
money,  the  fruit  of  his  incessant  toil  and  eare,  pur- 
chases two  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  Muckworm's 
Funds,  or  Stocks,  and  leaves  the  said  purchase  to 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  39 

his  daughter.  And,  why  does  he  do  so?  The  rea- 
son is,  that,  as  he  believes,  his  daughter  will  always 
receive  the  interest  of  the  two  thousand  pounds, 
without  any  of  the  risk,  or  trouble,  belonging  to  the 
rents  of  house  or  land.  Thus  neighbour  Greenhorn 
is  said  to  have  u  put  two  thousand  pounds  in  the 
Funds  ;"  and  thus  his  daughter  (poor  girl !)  is  said  to 
"  have,  her  money  in  the  Funds  /"  when  the  plain 
fact  is,  that  Muckworm's  money  has  been  spent  by 
the  Government,  that  Muckworm  has  now  the  two 
thousand  pounds  of  poor  Grizzle  Greenhorn,  and 
that  she,  in  return  for  it,  has  her  name  written  in 
a  Book,  at  the  Bank  Company's  house,  in  Thread- 
needle-street,  London,  in  consequence  of  which  she 
is  entitled  to  receive  the  interest  of  the  two  thousand 
pounds ;  which  brings  us  back  to  the  point  whence 
we  started,  and  explains  the  whole  art  and  mystery 
of  making  loans  and  funds  and  stocks  and  national 
debts. 

It  will  be  very  useful  to  show  the  effect  of  this 
*  putting  money  in  the  Funds,"  with  respect  to  the 
party  who  is  said  to  put  it  in.  I  do  not  know  of  any 
duty  more  pressing  upon  me,  than  that  of  showing, 
in  this  plain  and  practical  way,  what  have  been, 
what  are,  and  what  must  be,  the  consequences  to 
those,  who  thus  dispose  of  their  property ;  especially 
if  they  have  no  property  of  any  other  sort.  But,  this 
will  be  found  to  belong  to  another  part  of  our  sub- 
ject ;  and  as  we  have  now  seen  what  the  Funds  and 
the  Stocks  really  are  ;  as  we  have  blown  away  the 
mist  in  which  we  had  so  long  been  wandering ;  as 
the  financial  Ark  is  now  no  more  in  our  sight  than 
any  veritable  box  made  of  deal  boards  and  nails ;  as 
we  are  now  satisfied,  that  there  is  nothing  mystical 
in  the~words  Funds  and  Stocks,  and  that,  so  far  from 
meaning  a  place  where  a  great  quantity  of  money 
is  kept,  they  are  not  the  name  of  any  place  at  all, 
nor  of  any  thing  which  has  a  corporeal  existence, 
and  are  the  mere  denominations,  or  names,  of  the 
several  classes  or  parcels,  of  Debt,  which  the  Go- 


40  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

vernment  owes  to  individuals :  in  short,  as  we  have 
now,  let  us  hope,  arrived  at  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  nature  and  origin  of  the  Funds  and  the  Stocks 
and  the  National  Debt,  which,  as  was  before  said, 
are,  in  fact,  all  one  and  the  same  thing,  it  is  time 
that  we  proceed  to  inquire  into  their  progress,  and 
to  see  how  that  progress  is  connected  with  the  in- 
crease of  the  Bank  Notes  and  with  the  stoppage  of 
the  payment  of  those  notes  in  gold  and  silver.  To 
do  justice,  however,  to  this  copious  and  interesting 
theme,  especially  when  coupled  with  what  it  will 
be  necessary  to  say  as  to  the  schemes  for  arresting 
the  progress  of  the  Debt,  will  demand  a  separate 
Letter.  In  the  meanwhile, 

I  am,  with  perfect  sincerity, 
Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  6th  Sept.  1810. 


LETTER  III. 

Danger  of  exciting  Popular  Discontents  against  Country 
Paper-Money  Makers— Description  of  the  National  Debt- 
Progress  of  the  Debt — The  different  Denominations  of  it  no 
Consequence— Cost  of  the  Anti-jacobin  War— Progress  of 
the  National  Expenses— Progress  of  the  Revenue  or  Taxes 
— The  effect  of  Taxation — Taxes  cause  Poverty  and  Mi- 
sery in  a  Country — Not  like  Rents— Increase  of  Revenue 
no  Proof  of  National  Prosperity— What  are  the  Signs  of 
National  Prosperity— Increase  of  the  Poor  rates  in  England 
—Cost  of  the  Tax-Gatherers  sufficient  to  support  92,500 
Families. 

GENTLEMEN, 

A  LONDON  print,  which  is  what  is  called  a  mi- 
nisterial newspaper,  and  which  I,  in  the  discharge  of 
my  duty  as  a  public  writer,  am  compelled  to  read, 
but  which,  for  the  sake  of  your  morals,  I  hope  none 
of  you  ever  see,  has  most  harshly  spoken  of  that  part 
of  our  paper-money,  which  is  issued  by  the  Bankers, 
whose  shops  are  in  the  country.  The  writer  of  this 
print  has  described  that  paper,  namely,  the  country 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  4i 

bank-notes,  as  "  destructive  assignats ;"  and,  in 
another  of  his  publications,  he  calls  them  "  vile 
rags  ;"  and  then  again  "  dirty  rags."  These  hard 
words,  besides  that  they  are  unbecoming  in  sober 
discussion,  can  do  no  good,  and  may  do  a  great  deal 
of  harm,  if  they  have  any  effect  at  all  upon  the  minds 
of  the  people  ;  and,  therefore,  we  will  make  a  re- 
mark or  two  upon  their  tendency,  before  we  proceed 
with  the  topic  mentioned  at  the  close  of  the  last  letter. 
Assignats  was  the  name  given  to  the  French  re- 
volutionary paper-money,  the  distresses  occasioned 
by  which  are  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  most  people ; 
and,  to  give  the  same  name  to  our  country  bank-notes 
was ,  therefore,  to  proclaim,  as  far  as  this  writer  was 
able  to  proclaim,  that  these  notes,  being  more  than  one 
half  of  all  our  circulating  medium,  were  as  bad, 
if  not  worse,  than  the  paper-money  of  France,  which 
produced  so  much  individual  misery  to  so  many  mil- 
lions of  people.  Not  that  this  was  betraying  any 
secret  to  the  world  ;  for,  it  is  beyond  all  comprehen- 
sion foolish  to  suppose,  that  all  the  world,  particu- 
larly our  sharp-sighted  enemy,  are  not  fully  ac- 
quainted with  our  situation  in  this  respect,  more  es- 
pecially now  that  the  Bullion  Report  is  abroad ;  but 
what  I  find  fault  of,  is,  that  this  description  of  coun- 
try hank-notes,  as  contradistinguished  from  the 
London  bank-notes,  has  a  tendency  to  excite  popular 
hatred,  and  in  cases  that  may  happen,  popular  vio- 
lence, against  that  part  of  our  paper-money  makers, 
called  country  bankers  ;  than  which  nothing  can 
be  much  more  unjust  in  itself,  or  be  more  likely 
to  lead  to  universal  confusion,  the  experience  of  the 
world  having  proved  that  commotion,  when  once  oil 
foot,  is  seldom  limited  to  the  accomplishment  of  its 
original  object ;  and,  we  may  venture  to  affirm,  that 
nothing  was  ever  better  calculated  to  render  popular 
commotion  violent,  and  to  push  it  beyond  its  natural 
bounds,  than  the  hatred  and  revenge,  which  it  would 
seem  to  be  the  object  of  the  print  above-mentioned 
to  excite  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
4* 


42  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

The  country  paper-money  makers  are  not,  as  we 
shall  soon  see,  any  more  to  blame  than  are  the  paper- 
money  makers  in  town.  Paper-money  making  is  a 
trade,  or  calling,  perfectly  innocent  in  itself,  and  the 
tradesmen  may  be  very  moral  and  even  very  liberal 
men.  Amongst  them,  as  amongst  men  of  other 
trades,  there  are,  doubtless,  sharpers  and  even  rogues, 
and  the  trade  itself  may  be  one  that  exposes  men  to 
the  temptation  of  becoming  roguish ;  but  it  does  not 
follow,  that  all  the  paper-money  makers,  or  that  the 
paper-money  makers  in  general,  are  men  of  dis- 
honest views.  It  is,  therefore,  not  only  illiberal, 
but  unjust  in  the  extreme,  to  condemn  the  whole  of 
the  trade  in  a  lump,  to  call  their  wares  "  destructive 
assignats,  vile  rags,  dirty  rags"  and  the  like, 
whence  it  is,  of  course,  intended  that  it  should  be  un- 
derstood, that  all  the  issuers  of  them  ought  to  be  re- 
garded as  pests  of  society  and  treated  accordingly ; 
when,  the  truth  is,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  the 
fault  is  not  in  individuals,  but  in  the  system. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  put  you  upon  your 
guard  against  the  tendency  of  this  very  unjust  repre- 
sentation of  our  country  bankers,  and  their  money, 
an  endeavour,  which,  it  appeared  to  me,  ought  not  to 
be  delayed,  we  will  now  proceed  with  our  subject, 
and,  as  was  proposed,  at  the  close  of  the  last  Letter, 
inquire  into  the  progress  of  the  Funds  and  Stocks ; 
or,  in  more  proper  terms,  into  the  INCREASE  OF 
THE  NATIONAL  DEBT. 

We  have  before  seen  what  is  the  nature  of  this 
debt :  we  have  also  seen  how  it  began :  we  shall,  by- 
and-by,  have  to  show  the  effects  of  it :  but  what  we 
have  to  do,  at  present,  is  to  inquire  into  and  ascer- 
tain, how  it  has  gone  on  increasing,  and  what  is  now 
its  amount.  We  shall  next  inquire  into,  the  schemes 
for  lessening  the  Debt ;  and  then  we  shall  distin- 
guish what  is  called  Redeemed  from  Unredeemed 
debt ;  but,  first  of  all,  let  us  leave  all  other  views 
of  it  aside,  and  confine  our  attention  merely  to  the 
sums  borrowed.  We  have  before  seen,  that  the 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  43 

money  has  been  borrowed  in  various  ways,  or  under 
various  denominations.  In  some  cases  the  money 
borrowed  was  to  yield  the  lender  3  per  centum,  that 
is  to  say  3  pounds  interest,  yearly,  for  every  hun- 
dred pounds  of  principal.  In  some  cases  the  lender 
was  to  receive  4  per  centum ;  in  some  cases  5  per 
centum  :  and  in  some  cases  more.  Hence  come  the 
denomination  of  3  per  cents,  and  4  per  cents.,  and 
so  forth.  But,  to  the  people,  who  have  to  pay  the 
interest,  these  distinctions  are  of  no  consequence  at 
all,  any  more  than  it  would  be  to  either  of  us,  whe- 
ther our  bakers'  bills  were  made  out  upon  brown 
paper  or  upon  white.  We  shall  see  afterwards  what 
we  have  to  pay  yearly  in  the  shape  of  interest^  which 
is  the  thing  that  touches  us  home ;  but,  let  us  first 
see  what  the  principal  is,  and  how  it  has  gone  on 
increasing  ;  bearing  in  mind,  that,  as  was  shown  in 
the  foregoing  Letter  page  36,  the  borrowing,  and,  of 
course  the  Debt,  began  in  the  year  ]  692,  in  the  reign 
of  William  the  Third,  and  that  the  loan  made  in  that 
year  amounted  to  one  million  of  pounds. 
When  QJJEEN  ANNE,  who  succeeded 

William,  came  to  the  throne,  which 

was   in  the    year    1701,  the    Debt 

was £16,394,702 

When  GEORGE  I.  came  to  the  throne,  in 

1714,  it  was 54,145,363 

When  GEORGE  II.  came  to  the  throne, 

in  1727,  it  was 52,092,235 

When  GEORGE  III.  came  to  the  throne, 

in  1760,  it  was 146,682,844 

After  the  AMERICAN  WAR,  in  1784,  it 

was 257,213,043 

At  the  latter  END  OF  THE  LAST  WAR  ; 

that- is  to  say,  the  first  war  against 

the      French      Revolutionists,    and 

which,  for  the  sake  of  having  a  dis- 
tinctive appellation,  we  will  call  the 

ANTI-JACOBIN  WAR  :  at  the  end  of 

that  war,  in  1801,  the  Debt  was .     .    579  931,447 


44  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

At  the  PRESENT  TIME  \  oi  rather  in  Ja- 
nuary last:* 811,898,082 

That  is  to  say,  eight  hundred  and  eleven  millionsy 
eight  hundred  and  ninety  eight  thousand,  and 
eighty-two  ;  and  these  in  pounds,  in  English  pounds, 
too  !  There  are  in  the  accounts  laid  before  the  Par- 
liament (from  which  the  last-mentioned  sum  is  taken) 
some  shillings  and  pence  and  even  FARTHINGS, 
in  addition  ;  but  though  these  accountants  have  been 
so  nice,  we  will  not  mind  a  few  farthings.  Part  of 
this  Debt  is  what  is  called  funded  and  a  part  un- 
funded ;  part  is  called  Irish  Debt,  part  Emperor  of 
Germany's  Debt,  and  another  part  the  Prince  Re- 
gent of  Portugal's.  But  interest  upon  the  whole  of 
it  is  payable  in  England  ;  and  that  is  all  that  we 
have  to  look  after ;  it  being  of  no  consequence  to  us 
what  the  thing  is  called,  so  that  we  have  to  pay  for 
it.  So  that  we  are  taxed  to  pay  the  interest  of  it, 
what  matters  it  to  us  what  names  the  several  parts 
of  it  may  go  by  ?  I  hope,  that  there  is  not,  at  this 
day,  a  man  amongst  you,  who  is  to  be  amused  with 
empty  sounds  :  I  hope  that  your  minds  are  not,  now- 
a-days,  after  all  that  you  have  seen,  to  be  led  away 
from  the  object  before  them  by  any  repetition  of 
mere  names.  So  long  as  we  are  taxed  to  pay  the 
interest  upon  the  Debt,  that  man  must  be  exceed- 
ingly weak,  who  is  to  be  made  to  believe,  that  it  is 
of  any  consequence  to  any  of  us  by  what  name  that 
debt  is  called.f 

Such,  then,  has  been  the  progress  of  the  National 
Debt ;  and,  it  is  well  worthy  of  our  attention,  that  it 
has  increased  in  an  increasing  proportion.  It  is 
now  nearly  s?>  times  as  great  as  it  was  when  the 
present  king  [Geo.  III.]  came  to  the  throne  ;  and, 

*  The  above  enormous  sums  maybe  converted  into  United 
States'  money  by  reckoning  4s.  6d.  to  the  dollar,  and  adding 
eight  per  cent,  which  is  the  common  rate  of  exchange. 
This  makes  the  pound  sterling  about  $4  80.  Thus  as  ll.  ster- 
lingis  $4  80:  811,898,032^.  is  $3,897,110,793,60. 

t  There  is,  besides  the  above,  the  INDIA  DEBT  ;  but  of  that 
we  will  speak  another  time. 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  45 

which  ought  to  he  well  attended  to,  more  than  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  of  the  debt  has  been  contracted 
in  carrying  on,  against  the  French,  that  war,  which, 
at  its  commencement,  was  to  succeed  by  means  of 
ruining  the  Finances  of  France.  When  the  ANTI- 
JACOBIN  WAR  began  in  1793,  the  Debt  was,  at  the 
utmost,  £257,213,043.  It  is  now  £811,898,082. 
Such  has,  thus  far,  been  the  financial  effect ;  such 
has  been  the  effect,  as  to  money-matters,  of  the  wars 
against  the  Jacobins.  How  many  times  were  we 
told,  that  it  required  but  one  more  campaign  ;  one 
more  ;  only  one  more  vigorous  campaign,  to  put  an 
end  to  the  war ;  to  destroy,  to  annihilate,  for  ever, 
the  resources  of  France.  Alas  !  those  resources 
have  not  been  destroyed.  They  have  increased  in 
a  fearful  degree ;  while  we  have  accumulated  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  Debt  in  the  attempt.  How 
many  writers  have  flattered  us,  from  time  to  time, 
with  the  hope,  nay,  the  certainty,  (if  we  would  but 
persevere,)  of  triumphing  over  the  French  by  the 
means  of  our  riches  !  To  how  many  of  these  de- 
ceivers have  we  been  so  foolish  as  to  listen  !  It  is 
this  credulity  which  has  led  to  the  present  state  of 
things  ;  and,  unless  we  shake  it  off  at  once,  and  re- 
solve to  look  our  dangers  in  the  face,  we  shall,  I 
greatly  fear,  experience  that  fate  which  our  deceivers 
told  us  would  be  experienced  by  our  enemy.  PITT, 
it  is  well  known,  grew  into  favour  with  the  nation, 
in  consequence  of  his  promises  and  his  plans  to  pay 
off  the  National  Debt ;  and,  this  same  PITT,  who 
found  that  Debt  257  millions,  left  it  upwards  of  600 
millions,  after  having,  for  twenty  years,  had  the  full 
power  of  managing  all  the  resources  of  the  nation  ; 
after  having,  for  nearly  the  whole  of  that  time,  had 
the  support  of  three  fourths,  if  not  more,  of  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  after  having,  of 
course,  adopted  whatever  measures  he  thought  pro- 
per, during  the  whole  of  that  time.  He  found  the 
Debt  two  hundred  and  fifty  odd  millions,  and  he 
left  it  six  hundred  and  fifty  odd.  This  was  what 


46  PAPER    AGAINST   GOLD. 

was  done  for  England  by  that  PITT  whose  own  pri- 
vate debts  the  people  had  to  pay,  besides  the  expense 
of  a  monument  to  his  memory  !  This  is  what  every 
man  in  England  should  bear  constantly  in  mind. 

Having  now  seen  how  the  National  Debt  has  in- 
creased, let  us  next  see  how  the  EXPENSES  of 
the  Nation  have  increased  ;  and,  then  take  a  look  at 
the  increase  of  the  TAXES  ;  for,  in  order  to  be  able 
to  form  a  correct  opinion  upon  the  main  points, 
touched  upon  by  the  Bullion  Committee,  we  must 
have  a  full  view,  not  only  of  the  Debt  but  of  the  Ex- 
penses and  the  Taxes  of  the  nation. 
When  Q,UEEN  ANNE  came  to  the 

throne,  in  1701,  the  whole  Ex- 
penses of  the   year,  including 

the  interest  on   the  National 

Debt,  amounted  to .....  £5,610,987  Peace. 
When  GEORGE  I.  came  to  the 

throne,  in   1714,  and  just  after 

Q,ueen  Anne  had  been  at  war 

eleven  years 6,633,581  Peace. 

When   GEORGE  II.   came   to  the 

throne,  in  1727 5,441,248  Peace. 

When  GEORGE  III.  came  to  the 

throne,  in   1760 24,456,940  War. 

After  the  END  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

WAR,  and  at  the  beginning  of 

PITT'S  Administration,  in  1784  21,657,609  Peace. 
At  the  latter  End  of  the  last,  or 

ANTI-JACOBIN  WAR,  in  1801  .      61,278,018  War. 
For  the  last  year,  that  is,  the  year 

1809 £82,027,288,  5s.  1-Jd.  War. 

Now,  without  any  thing  more  than  this,  let  me  ask 
any  of  you,  to  whom  I  address  this  Letter,  whether 
you  think  it  possible  for  the  thing  to  go  on  in  this 
way  for  any  great  length  of  time?  If  the  subject 
did  not  present  so  many  considerations  to  make  us 
serious,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  refrain  from 
laughing  at  the  scrupulousness  that  could  put  Jive 
shillings  and  a  penny  three  farthings  at  the  end 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  47 

of  a  sum  of  millions,  that  it  almost  makes  one's 
head  swim  but  to  think  of.  Laughable,  however,  as 
we  may  think  it,  those  who  have  such  accounts  made 
out,  think  it  no  laughing  matter.  It  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, looked  upon  by  them,  perhaps,  as  no  very  un- 
important part  of  the  system. 

Upon  looking  at  the  above  progress  of  the  Expen- 
diture, it  is  impossible  to  avoid  being  struck  with  the 
increase,  during  the  present  reign.  The  year  1760 
was  a  time  of  war  as  well  as  the  present ;  but,  as  we 
see,  a  year  of  war  then,  cost  only  24  millions ; 
whereas  a  year  of  war  now  costs  82  millions.  We 
see,  too,  that  a  year  of  war  now  costs  20  millions 
more  than  a  year  of  war  cost  only  ten  years  ago. 
What,  then,  will  be  the  cost,  if  this  war  should  con- 
tinue many  years  longer,  and  if,  as  appearances 
threaten,  the  enemy  should  lake  such  measures,  and 
adopt  such  a  change  in  his  mode  of  hostility,  as  to 
add  greatly  to  the  expensiveness  of  our  defence  ? 
This  is  a  very  material  consideration;  and,  though  it 
will  hereafter  be  taken  up,  still  I  could  not  refrain 
from  just  touching  upon  it  in  this  place.  Am  I  told, 
that  our  money  is  depreciated  or  fallen  off  in  va- 
lue; and  that  the  increase  in  our  expenses  is  more 
nominal  than  real ;  that  the  increase  is  in  name ; 
merely  in  the  figures,  and  not  in  the  thing ;  for  that 
a  pound  is  not  worth  anything  like  what  a  pound 
was  worth  when  the  king  came  to  the  throne  ?  Arn 
I  told  this  ?  If  I  am,  I  say,  that  we  are  not  yet 
come  to  the  proper  place  for  discussing  matters  of 
this  sort ;  that  we  shall  come  to  it  all  in  good  time  ; 
but,  that,  in  the  meanwhile,  I  may  hope  to  hear  no 
more  abuse  of  our  doctrines,  from  those,  at  least, 
who,  in  this  way,  would  reconcile  our  minds  to  the 
enormous  increase  in  the  nation's  yearly  expenses. 

Having  now  taken  a  view  of  tfie  increase  of  the 
Debt,  and  also  of  the  yearly  expenses  of  the  nation, 
let  us  now  see  how  the  revenue,  or  income,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  the  TAXES  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
money  received  from  the  people,  in  the  course  of  the 


48  PAPER    AGAINST   G6LD. 

year,  by  the  several  sorts  of  tax-gatherers ;  let  us 
now  see  how  the  amount  of  these  has  gone  on  in- 
creasing. 
When  QUEEN  ANNE  came  to  the  throne,  in 

1701.  the  yearly  amount  of  the  taxes 

was £4,212,358 

When  GEORGE  I.  came  to  the  throne  in 

1714,  it  was 6,762,643 

When  GEORGE  II.  came  to  the  throne  in 

1727  it  was 6,522,540 

When  GEORGE  III.  came  to  the  throne  in 

1760,  it  was 8,744,682 

After  the  AMERICAN  WAR,  1784,  it  was  13,300,921 
At  the  close  of  the  Anti-Jacohin  War,  in 

1801  it  was 36,728,971 

For  the  last  year,  that  is  1809,  it  was.     .  70,240.226 

It  is  quite  useless  to  offer  any  comments  upon  this. 
The  figures  speak  too  plainly  for  themselves  to  re- 
ceive any  assistance  from  words.  As  to  the  correct- 
ness  of  these  statements,  there  may,  perhaps,  be 
found  some  little  inaccuracies  in  the  copying  of  the 
figures,  and  in  adding  some  of  the  sums  together; 
but,  these  must  be  very  immaterial ;  and,  indeed, 
none  of  the  questions,  which  we  have  to  discuss,  can 
possibly  be  affected  by  any  little  error  of  this  sort.  I 
say  this  in  order  to  bar  any  cavil  that  may,  possibly, 
be  attempted  to  be  raised  out  of  circumstances,  such 
as  I  have  here  mentioned. 

Thus,  then,  we  have  pretty  fairly  before  us,  a  view 
of  the  increase  of  the  Debts,  the  Expenses,  and  the 
Taxes,  of  the  nation ;  and  a  view  it  is  quite  suffi- 
cient to  impress  with  serious  thoughts  every  man, 
whose  regard  for  his  country  is  not  confined  to  mere 
professions.  There  are  persons,  I  know,  who  laugh 
at  this.  They  may  have  reason  to  laugh  ;  but  we 
have  not.  The  pretence  is,  that  taxes  return  again 
to  those  who  pay  them.  Return  again  !  In  what 
manner  do  they  return  ?  Can  any  of  you  perceive 
the  taxes  that  you  pay  coming  back  again  to  you  ? 
All  the  interested  persons  who  have  written  upon 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  49 

taxation,  have  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  people, 
that,  to  load  them  with  taxes  does  them  no  harm  at 
all,  though  this  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  language 
of  every  Speech  that  the  King  makes  to  the  Parlia- 
ment during  every  war ;  for,  in  every  such  Speech, 
he  expresses  his  deep  sorrow,  that  he  is  compelled 
to  lay  new  burdens  upon  his  people. 

The  writers  here  alluded  to,  the  greater  part  of 
whom  live,  or  have  a  design  to  live,  upon  the  taxes, 
always  appear  to  consider  the  nation  as  being  rich 
and  prosperous  in  a  direct  proportion  to  the  quan- 
tity of  taxes  that  is  raised  upon  it ;  never  seeming 
to  take  into  their  views  of  riches  and  prosperity  the 
ease  and  comfort  of  the  people  who  pay  those  taxes. 
The  notion  of  these  persons  seems  to  be.  that,  as 
there  always  will  be  more  food  raised,  and  more 
goods  made  in  the  country,  than  is  sufficient  for  those, 
who  own,  and  who  till  the  soil,  and  who  labour  in 
other  ways,  that  the  surplus,  or  super-abundance, 
ought  to  fall  to  their  share ;  or,  at  least,  that  it  ought 
to  be  taken  away  in  taxes,  which  produce  a  luxu- 
rious way  of  living,  and  luxury  gives  employment  to 
the  people;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  sets  them  to  work 
to  earn  their  own  money  back  again.  This  is  a 
mighty  favour  to  be  sure. 

The  tendency  of  taxation  is,  to  create  a  class  of 
persons  who  do  not  labour ;  to  take  from  those  who 
do  labour,  the  produce  of  that  labour,  and  to  give  it 
to  those  who  do  not  labour.  The  produce  taken 
away  is,  in  this  case,  totally  destroyed ;  but,  if  it 
were  expended,  or  consumed,  amongst  those  who 
labour,  it  would  produce  something  in  its  stead. 
There  would  be  more,  or  better  cloth  ;  more  or  better 
houses ;  and  these  would  be  more  generally  distri- 
buted ;~  while  the  growth  of  vice,  which  idleness  al- 
ways engenders  and  fosters,  would  be  prevented. 

If,  by  the  gripe  of  taxation,  every  grain  of  the  sur- 
plus produce  of  a  country  be  taken  from  the  lowest 
class  of  those  who  labour,  they  will  have  the  means 
of  bare  existence  left.  Of  course,  their  clothing  and 
5 


50  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

their  dwellings  will  become  miserable,  their  food  bad, 
or  in  stinted  quantity ;  that  surplus  produce  which 
should  go  to  the  making  of  an  addition  to  their  meal, 
and  to  the  creating  of  things  for  their  use,  will  be  an- 
nihilated by  those  who  do  nothing  but  eat.  Sup- 
pose, for  instance,  a  community  to  consist  of  a  farmer, 
four  cottagers,  a  tailor,  a  shoemaker,  a  smith,  a  carpen- 
ter, and  a  mason,  and  that  the  land  produces  enough 
for  them  all  and  no  more.  Suppose  this  little  com- 
munity to  be  seized  with  a  desire  to  imitate  their 
betters,  and  to  keep  a  sinecure  placeman,  giving  him 
a  tenth  of  their  produce  which  they  formerly  gave  to 
their  shoemaker.  The  consequence  would  be,  that 
poor  CRISPIN  would  die,  and  they  would  go  bare- 
footed, with  the  consolation  of  reflecting  that  they 
had  brought  themselves  into  this  state,  from  the  silly 
vanity  of  keeping  an  idle  man.  But,  suppose  the 
land  to  yield  enough  food  for  all  ten  of  them,  and 
enough  for  two  more  besides.  They  have  this,  then, 
besides  what  is  absolutely  necessary  to  supply  their 
wants.  They  can  spare  one  of  their  men  from  the 
field,  and  have  besides,  food  enough  to  keep  him  in 
some  other  situation.  Now,  which  is  best,  to  make 
him  a  second  carpenter,  who,  in  return  for  his  food, 
would  give  them  additional  and  permanent  conve- 
nience and  comfort  in  their  dwellings ;  or,  to  make 
him  a  sinecure  placeman  or  a  singer,  in  either  of 
which  places  he  would  be  an  annihilator  of  corn,  at 
the  same  time  that,  in  case  of  emergency,  he  would 
not  be  half  so  able  to  defend  the  community  ?  Sup- 
pose two  of  the  cultivators  became  sinecure  placemen, 
then  you  kill  the  carpenter  or  some  one  else;  or, 
what  is  more  likely,  all  the  labouring  part  of  the 
community,  that  is  to  say,  all  but  the  sinecure  place- 
men, live  more  miserably,  in  dress,  in  dwellings,  and 
in  food.  This  reasoning  applied  to  tens,  applies 
equally  well  to  millions ,  the  causes  and  effects  being, 
in  the  latter  case,  only  a  little  more  difficult  to  trace. 
Such  is  the  way  in  which  taxes  operate  j  the  dis- 
tinction between  which  operation  and  the  operation 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  51 

of  rents  being  this,  that  in  the  latter  case,  you  re- 
ceive  something  of  which  you  have  the  particular 
enjoyment,  for  what  you  give  ;  and,  in  the  former 
case,  you  receive  nothing.  It  is  by  no  means  to  be 
understood,  that  there  should  be  no  persons  to  live 
without  what  is  generally  called  labour.  Physicians, 
Parsons,  Lawyers,  and  others  of  the  higher  callings 
in  life,  do,  in  fact,  labour ;  and  it  is  right  that  there 
should  be  persons  of  great  estate,  and  without  any 
profession  at  all ;  but  then,  you  will  find,  that  these 
persons  do  not  live  upon  the  earnings  of  others : 
they  all  of  them  give  something  in  return  for  what 
they  receive.  Those  of  the  learned  professions  give 
the  use  of  their  talents  and  skill ;  and  the  landlord 
gives  the  use  of  his  land  or  his  houses. 

Nor  ought  we  to  look  upon  all  Taxes  as  so  much 
of  the  fruit  of  our  labour  lost,  or  taken  away  with- 
out cause.  Taxes  are  necessary  in  every  commu- 
nity ;  and  the  man,  whether  he  be  statesman,  solr 
dier,  or  sailor,  who  is  in  the  service  of  the  commu- 
nity, gives  his  services  in  return  for  that  portion  of 
the  taxes  which  he  receives.  We  are  not  talking 
against  taxes  in  general ;  nor,  indeed,  will  we  stop 
here  to  inquire,  whether  our  taxes,  at  their  present 
amount,  be  necessary ;  or,  whether,  by  other  coun- 
sels, they  might,  in  great  part,  at  least,  have  been 
avoided.  These  are  questions  which,  for  the  pre- 
sent, we  will  wholly  pass  over,  our  object  being  to 
come  at  a  correct  opinion  with  regard  to  the  effect  of 
heavy  taxation  upon  the  people  who  have  to  support 
it,  reserving  for  another  opportunity  our  remarks  and 
opinions  as  to  the  necessity  of  such  taxation  in  our 
particular  case. 

By  national  prosperity  the  writers  above  alluded 
to  mean  something  very  different  indeed  from  that 
which  you  and  I,  who  have  no  desire  to  live  upon 
the  taxes,  should  call  national  prosperity.  They 
look  upon  it,  or,  at  least,  they  would  have  us  look 
upon  it  as  being  demonstrated  in  the  increase  of  the 
number  of  chariots  and  of  fine-dressed  people  in  and 


52  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

about  the  purlieus  of  the  court ;  whereas,  reflection 
will  not  fail  to  teach  us,  that  this  is  a  demonstration 
of  the  increase  of  the  taxes,  and  nothing  more.  Na- 
tional prosperity  shows  itself  in  very  different  ways  : 
in  the  plentiful  meal,  the  comfortable  dwelling,  the 
decent  furniture  and  dress,  the  healthy  and  happy 
countenances,  and  the  good  morals  of  the  labouring 
classes  of  the  people.  These  are  the  ways  in  which 
national  prosperity  shows  itself;  and,  whatever  is  not 
attended  with  these  signs,  is  not  national  prosperity. 
Need  I  ask  you,  then,  if  heavy  taxation  be  calculated 
to  produce  these  effects  ?  Have  our  labourers  a  plen- 
tiful meal  of  food  fit  for  man  ?  Do  they  taste  meat 
once  in  a  day  ?  Are  they  decently  clothed  ?  Have 
they  the  means  of  obtaining  firing  ?  Are  they  and 
their  children  healthy  and  happy  ?  I  put  these  ques- 
tions to  you,  Gentlemen,  who  have  the  means  of 
knowing  the  facts,  and  who  must,  I  am  afraid,  answer 
them  all  in  the  negative. 

But,  why  need  we  here  leave  any  thing  to  con- 
jecture, when  we  have  the  undeniable  proof  before 
us,  in  the  accounts,  laid  before  Parliament,  of  the 
amount  of  the  Poor-Rates,  at  two  different  periods, 
and,  of  course,  at  two  different  stages  in  our  taxation ; 
namely,  in  the  year  1784,  and  in  the  year  1803  ? 
At  the  former  period,  the  taxes  of  the  year,  as  we 
have  seen  above,  amounted  to  £13,300,921 ;  and  then 
the  Poor-Rates  amounted  to  £2,105,623.  At  the 
latter  period,  the  taxes  of  the  year  (as  will  be  seen 
from  the  Official  Statement  in  Register,  Vol.  IV. 
page  1471)  amounted  to  £41,931,747  ;  and  the  Poor- 
Rates  had  then  risen  to  £5,246,506.  What  must  they, 
then,  amount  to  at  this  day,  when  the  year's  taxes 
amount  to  upwards  of  70  millions  of  pounds  ? 

Here  then,  we  have  a  pretty  good  proof,  that  taxa- 
tion and  pauperism  go  hand  in  hand.  We  have  seen 
what  was  produced  by  the  ANTI-JACOBIN  WAR.  The 
taxes  continued  nearly  the  same  from  1784  to  1793, 
the  year  in  which  PITT  began  that  war  ;  so  that,  by 
the  ANTI-JACOBIN  WAR  alone  the  Poor-Rates  were 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  53 

augmented,  in  nominal  amount,  from  £2,105,623  to 
£5,246,506 ;  at  which  we  shall  not  be  surprised,  if 
we  apply  to  this  case  the  principle  above  illustrated 
in  the  supposed  community  of  ten  men,  where  it  is 
shown,  that,  by  taking  the  produce  of  labour  from 
the  proprietors  of  it,  and  giving  it  to  those,  who  do 
not  labour  and  do  not  give  the  proprietors  of  such  pro- 
duce any  thing  in  return,  poverty,  or,  at  least,  a  less 
degree  of  ease  and  enjoyment,  must  be  the  conse- 
quence. 

The  Poor-Rates  alone  are  now  equal  in  amount 
to  the  whole  of  the  national  expenditure,  including 
the  interest  of  the  Debt,  when  the  late  King  came  to 
the  throne  ;  and,  the  charges  of  managing  the  taxes ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  wages,  salaries,  or  allowances,  to 
the  tax-gatherers  of  various  descriptions  ;  the  bare 
charge  which  we  pay  on  this  account,  amounts  to 
very  little  short  of  as  much  as  the  whole  of  the 
taxes  amounted  to  when  King  William  was  crowned. 

This  charge  ;  that  is  to  say,  what  we  pay  to  the 
tax-gatherers,  in  one  shape  or  another,  is  stated  in 
the  account  laid  before  Parliament  for  the  last  year, 
at  £2,886,201,  a  sum  equal  to  a  year's  wages  of 
92,500  labourers  at  twelve  shillings  a  week,  which 
may,  I  suppose,  be  looked  upon  as  the  average  wages 
of  labourers,  take  all  the  kingdom  through.  Is  this 
no  evil  ?  Are  we  to  be  persuaded,  that,  to  take  the 
means  of  supporting  92,500  families,  consisting,  upon 
the  usual  computation  (5  to  a  family)  of  461,000 
souls  ;  that  to  take  away  the  means  of  supporting  all 
these,  and  giving  those  means  to  support  others, 
whose  business  it  is  to  tax  the  rest,  instead  of  adding 
to  the  stock  of  the  community  by  their  labour ;  are 
we  to  be  persuaded  that  this  is  no  evil ;  and  that, 
too,  though  we  see  the  Poor-Rates  grown  from  2 
millions  to  5  millions  in  the  space  of  10  years  ?  Are 
we  to  be  persuaded  to  believe  this  ?  Verily,  if  we 
are,  it  is  a  great  shame  for  us  to  pretend  to  laugh  at 
the  Mahomedans. 

Having  now  taken  a  view  of  the  progress  of  the 


54  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

National  Debt  together  with  that  of  the  National 
Expenses  and  Taxes :  and  having  (by  stepping 
a  little  aside  for  a  moment)  seen  something  of  their 
effect  upon  national  prosperity*  we  will,  in  the 
next  Letter,  agreeably  to  the  intention  before  ex- 
pressed, inquire  into  the  schemes  for  arresting  this 
fearful  progress ;  or,  as  they  are  generally  denomi- 
nated, plans,  for  paying  off,  or,  reducing,  the  Na- 
tional Debt ;  a  subject  of  very  great  importance,  be- 
cause, as  we  must  now  be  satisfied,  the  bank-notes 
have  increased  with  the  Debt,  and,  of  course,  the 
reducing  of  the  Debt  would,  if  it  were  accomplished, 
tend  to  the  reduction  of  the  quantity  of  bank-notes, 
by  the  excess  of  which  it  is,  as  the  Bullion  Com- 
mittee have  declared,  that  the  gold  coin  has  been, 
driven  from  circulation. 

I  am.  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  "Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Tuesday,  11th  Sept.  1810, 

' 

LETTER  IV, 

Schemes  for  paying  off  the  National  Debt— Former  Sinking 
Funds— Origin  of  Pitt's  Grand  Sinking  Fund— Changes 
made  by  Pitt's  sway  in  the  state  of  this  Country— Grand 
Sinking  Fund— Purposes  of  it — The  Commissioners  and 
their  manner  of  Proceeding— How  they  would  buy  up  Griz- 
zle Greenhorn's  share  of  the  Debt— What  Redemption 
means— Commissioners  step  into  Grizzle's  shoes — We  still 
are  taxed  for  the  Interest — Evils  of  the  Grand  Sinking  Fund 
—What  would  be  really  Redeeming— American  mode  of  Re- 
deeming—Statement  of  the  Increase  of  the  Interest  on  the 
Debt — Clause  in  Pitt's  Grand  Sinking  Fund  Act  for  ceasing 
to  pay  Interest,  in  1808,  upon  Stock  bought  up. 

GENTLEMEN, 

OUR  next  business  is  to  inform  ourselves  correctly 
with  respect  to  the  Schemes,  which,  at  different 
times,  have  been  on  foot  for  PAYING  OFF  THE 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  55 

NATIONAL  DEBT,  and  about  which  paying  off 
we  have,  all  our  lives  long,  heard  so  much. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Debt  has  gone  on  increasing 
from  its  first  existence  to  the  present  day  ;  we  have 
seen  how  the  Expenses  of  the  nation  and  the  Taxes 
of  the  nation  have  gone  on  increasing  with  the  debt ; 
we  have  also  seen  that  the  increase  of  the  bank-notes 
has  kept  pace  with  the  rest,  till  those  notes  have,  at 
last,  driven  the  gold  coin  out  of  circulation.  This 
last  is  the  evil,  for  which  the  Bullion  Committee 
have  endeavoured  to  find  out  a  remedy,  and  such  a 
remedy  they  appear  to  think  that  they  have  found, 
in  an  Act  of  Parliament  which  they  propose  to  be 
passed,  for  causing  the  Bank  Company  to  pay  their 
promissory  notes  in  gold  and  silver  in  two  years' 
time.  One  of  our  principal  objects,  in  this  discussion 
is,  to  enable  ourselves  to  forjn  a  correct  opinion  as 
to  the  practicability  of  this  remedy,  even  at  the 
end  of  two  years  ;  and,  as  we  have,  from  what  has 
already  been  shown,  good  reason  to  believe,  that  the 
quantity  of  bank-notes,  the  excess  of  which  has  dri- 
ven the  gold  out  of  circulation,  cannot  be  lessened 
unless  the  Debt  be  also  diminished,  it  is  necessary 
for  us  to  ascertain  what  has  been  done  or  attempted, 
and  what  is  likely  to  be  done,  in  the  way  of  causing 
such  diminution. 

From  very  early  stages  of  the  Debt ;  indeed,  al- 
most from  the  very  beginning  of  it,  there  were  mea 
sures  proposed  for  paying  it  off,  the  idea  of  an  ever- 
lasting Debt,  and  an  everlasting  mortgage  upon  the 
nation's  means,  being,  at  first,  something  too  fright- 
ful for  our  upright  and  sensible  ancestors  to  bear. 
Propositions,  and  even  provisions,  were,  at  different 
times,  accordingly  made  for  paying  off  parts  of  the 
Debt"  and  some  comparatively  small  sums  were,  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  progress,  actually  paid  off; 
the  Debt  became  less,  and  less  interest  was,  of  course, 
paid  upon  it.  Still,  however,  as  new  wars  came  on, 
new  sums  were  borrowed ;  and,  as  lending  money 
to  the  Government  was  found  to  be  a  profitable  trade ; 


56  PAPER   AGAINST  GOLD. 

as  so  many  persons  of  influence  found  their  advan- 
tage in  the  loaning  transactions,  the  money  was  al- 
ways easily  enough  raised.  But,  yet  there  continued 
to  be  a  talk  of  -paying  off  the  Debt ;  and,  in  time,  a 
part  of  the  yearly  taxes  were  set  aside  for  that  pur- 
pose, which  part  of  the  taxes  so  set  aside  was  called 
a  SINKING  FUND. 

These  being  words,  which,  as  belonging  to  our 
present  subject,  are  of  vast  importance,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  us  to  have  a  clear  notion  of  their  meaning. 
The  word  Fund,  as  was  before  observed  in  Letter 
II.  page  13,  means  a  quantity  of  money  put  together 
for  any  purpose;  and,  in  the  instance  before  us, 
the  word  Sinking  appears  to  have  been  prefixed  to 
the  word  Fund  in  order  to  characterize,  or  describe, 
the  particular  purpose,  or  use,  of  the  taxes  so  set 
apart  5  namely,  the  purpose  of  sinking,  or  reducing, 
or  diminishing,  or  lessening,  the  Debt.  So  that  the 
Sinking  Fund,  of  which  we  have  all  heard  so  much, 
and  of  which  most  of  us  have  known  so  little,  means, 
in  other  words,  in  words  better  to  be  understood,  a 
Lessening  Fund ;  and  whether  the  thing  has,  in 
its  operations,  hitherto,  answered  to  its  name,  we 
shall  by-and-by  see,  if,  indeed,  we  have  not  seen 
enough  to  satisfy  us  upon  this  point  in  the  increasing 
of  the  Debt,  as  exhibited  in  the  foregoing  Letter. 

The  amount  of  taxes  thus  set  apart,  or,  to  use  the 
words  with  which  we  must  now  grow  familiar,  the 
Sinking  Funds,  which  were,  time  after  time,  esta- 
blished, were,  in  many  cases,  applied  to  other  pur- 
poses than  that  for  which  they  were  destined,  or  in- 
tended. Indeed,  they  seem,  for  many  years,  to  have 
been  very  little  better  than  purses  made  up  at  one 
time  and  spent  again  at  another,  without  answering 
any  rational  purpose  at  all ;  and,  accordingly,  the 
nation  does  not  appear  to  have  paid  any  great  atten- 
tion to  them,  or  to  have  considered  them  as  of  any 
consequence,  until  the  year  1786,  when  the  present 
GRAND  SINKING  FUND  was  established  by  PITT, 
oj  but  a  little  while  before,  had  been  made  Prime 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  57 

Minister,  and  whose  system  has  continued  to  this 
day. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  entering  upon  a  part  of 
our  subject,  which  not  only  demands  an  uncommon 
portion  of  your  attention,  but  into  the  discussion  of 
which  you  will,  I  hope,  carry  such  a  spirit  of  im- 
partiality as  shall  subdue  all  the  prejudices  of  party, 
and  dissipate  all  the  mists  of  ignorance  which  have 
therefrom  arisen.  It  is,  even  yet,  impossible  to  men- 
tion the  name  of  PITT,  without  exciting  feelings  that 
struggle  hard  against  reason,  and  that,  in  some  minds, 
overcome  it.  During  his  administration,  the  nation 
was  divided  into  two  parties,  so  hostile  to  each.other, 
that  both  were  easily  made  subservient  to  his  views  ; 
and,  it  is,  with  every  man  who  really  loves  his  coun- 
try, matter  of  deep  regret,  that  the  same,  or  nearly 
the  same,  divisions  continue  to  the  present  day. 

It  is  not  for  me,  who,  at  one  time,  really  looked 
upon  PITT  as  the  greatest  minister  that  England  ever 
saw,  to  reproach  others,  who  may  still  be  as  igno- 
rant of  the  truth,  as  I  was  then^  for  their  attach- 
ment to  his  memory,  for  their  high  opinion  of  the 
schemes  of  his  inventing,  and  for  their  blind  adora- 
tion of  those  schemes ;  but  when  they  have,  as  I 
have,  taken  a  fair  and  full  view  of  all  his  measures ; 
when  they  have  compared  his  deeds  with  his  pro- 
fessions, his  performances  with  his  promises ;  when 
they  have  seen,  that  he  added  threefold  to  our  Taxes 
and  our  Expenditure,  and  that,  notwithstanding  this, 
the  power  and  the  territory  of  France  were,  extended 
in  proportion  to  the  sacrifices  he  called  upon  us  to 
make  for  what  he  called  resisting  her ;  when  they 
see,  that  the  standard  of  national  misery,  the  Poor- 
Rates,  rose,  during  his  sway,  in  almost  a  triple  de- 
gree;-when  they  see,  that  the  war,  at  the  outset  of 
which  he  relied,  in  no  small  degree,  for  success  upon 
the  destruction  of  French  assignats,  did,  at  the 
end  of  four  years,  cause  the  stoppage  of  gold  and 
silver  payments  at  the  Bank  of  England,  and  that  its 
prolongation  has  led  to  a  state  of  things,  in  which  a 


58  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

public  print  devoted  to  the  Government,  has  described 
the  largest  class  of  English  bank-notes  as  "  destruc- 
tive  assignats  ;"  when  they  see  this,  and  when  they 
see,  that,  the  National  Debt,  which  he  himself  called, 
"  the  best  ally  of  France  ;"  when  they  see,  that 
that  Debt,  which  he  found  at  200  millions  and  odd, 
he  left  at  600  millions  and  odd,  while  France,  during 
his  wars  against  her,  had  exchanged  her  assignats 
for  gold,  and  had  extended  her  territory  and  her 
sway  to  a  degree  which  made  that  nation,  whose 
power  our  forefathers  despised,  an  object  of  continual 
dread  to  England;  when  the  former  partizans  of  PITT 
see  this,  as  they  must,  aye,  and/ee/  it  too,  will  they 
still  persist  in  asserting  the  wisdom  of  his  plans ; 
and,  above  all,  will  they,  when  they  see  the  debt 
tripling  in  amount  under  his  hands,  still  persist  in 
asserting  the  efficacy  of  his  Sinking  Fund,  and, 
upon  that  bare  assertion,  reject  all  inquiry  into  either 
the  nature  or  the  effect  of  that  celebrated  scheme  ? 

Let  us  hope,  that  in  a  country  boasting  of  the 
though tfulness  of  its  people,  there  can  be  but  very 
few  persons  so  besotted  as  this  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  due 
to  the  country  to  say,  that  there  do  not  appear  to  be 
any  such  left,  excepting  amongst  those  who  live  upon 
the  taxes,  and  whose  perverseness  arises  not  from 
their  want  of  information.  But,  be  this  as  it  may, 
I  am  satisfied  that  you,  my  Friends  and  Neighbours, 
who,  like  me,  have  no  interests  separate  from  those 
of  our  country,  will  not,  whatever  may  have  been 
your  prejudices  heretofore,  wilfully  shut  your  eyes 
against  the  truth,  and  that  you  will  accompany  me 
in  this  inquiry  with  that  great  attention,  which,  as  I 
before  observed,  the  subject  demands. 

Pitt's  Sinking  Fund  was  begun  in  the  year  1786, 
by  an  Act  of  Parliament  (being  Chapter  XXXI.  of 
the  26th  year  of  the  reign  of  Geo.  III.)  entitled — 
u  An  Act  for  vesting  certain  sums  in  Commission- 
ers^ at  the  end  of  every  Quarter  of  a  Year,  to  be 
by  them  applied  to  the  Reduction  of  the  National 
Debt."  In  virtue  of  this  Act,  a  certain  part  of  the 


PAPER  AGAINST   GOLD.  59 

taxes  was,  in  each  year,  to  be  paid  to  certain  persons 
named  in  the  Act,  as  Commissioners  for  managing 
the  concern ;  and  these  taxes,  together  with  the  ac- 
cumulations upon  them,  have  been,  as  formerly, 
called  a  Sinking  Fund. 

It  is  no  matter  what  was  the  amount  of  the  sum,  or 
sums,  of  money,  thus  to  be  set  apart  out  of  the  taxes, 
and  to  introduce  particulars  of  that  sort  would  only 
embarrass  our  view.  Suffice  it  to  know,  that  certain 
sums  of  money,  being  a  part  of  the  taxes,  were  set 
apart,  and  that,  with  this  money,  together  with  its 
growing  interest,  the  Commissioners,  appointed  by 
the  Sinking  Fund  Act,  were,  at  stated  periods,  and 
with  certain  limitations  in  their  powers,  to  redeem 
the  Debt  as  fast  as  they  could,  the  word  redeem  ha- 
ving now  come  into  fashion  instead  of  the  word  pay 
off.  It  is  of  no  consequence  what  were  the. periods, 
what  were  the  days  of  the  week  or  the  times  of  the 
moon,  when  this  work  of  redemption  was  to  be  per- 
formed. The  effect  is  what  we  have  to  look  after  , 
but,  in  order  to  have  a  clear  view  of  even  that,  we 
must  see  the  manner  of  doing  the  thing,  the  manner 
of  redeeming  or  paying  off  the  Debt ;  for,  without 
that,  we  shall  be  continually  exposed  to  be  bewildered 
and  deceived  ;  and,  indeed,  we  shall  be  quite  unable 
to  form  any  thing  like  a  clear  notion  of  what  the 
Sinking  Fund  really  is. 

The  Commissioners,  with  the  money  thus  put 
under  their  care  and  management,  were  to  purchase 
up  stock  from  individuals,  which  stock  would  then 
become  the  property  of  the  nation.  But,  stay. 
We  must  go  gently  on  here,  or  we  lose  ourselves  in 
a  moment.  We  must,  indeed,  not  proceed  a  step 
further,  till  we  have  gone  back  to  Letter  II,  at  pages 
36,  37f  and  38,  and  have  taken  another  look,  and  re- 
freshened our  memories  as  to  what  STOCK  means. 
Having  done  so,  and  read  on  to  the  end  of  the  first  pa- 
ragraph in  page  38,  we  may  proceed  by  repeating,  that 
the  Commissioners  were  to  go  to  work  with  the  money 
lodged  in  their  hands,  out  of  the  taxes,  and  purchase 


CO  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

up  Stock.  We  have  seen,  in  the  pages  just  referred, 
to,  how  Stock  is  made  ;  we  have  seen  how  MUCK 
WORM  lent  his  money  to  the  Government ;  we  have 
seen  how  he  got  his  name  written  in  a  book  in  re- 
turn for  his  money ;  we  have  seen  that  Stock  is  no- 
thing that  can  be  seen,  heard,  smelled  or  touched ; 
we  have  seen  that  it  signifies  the  right  of  receiving 
interest  upon  money  lent  to  the  Government,  which 
money  has  been  long  ago  expended  ;  we  have  seen 
the  operation  by  which  MUCKWORM  became  possessed 
of  Stock :  and  lastly,  we  have  seen  our  neighbour, 
FARMER  GREENHORN,  purchase  two  thousand  pounds' 
worth  of  MUCKWORM'S  Stock,  which  the  former  be- 
queathed to  his  poor  daughter  GRIZZLE. 

Now,  then,  observe  ;  the  whole  of  the  Stock,  of 
which  the  National  Debt  is  made  up,  is  exactly  the 
same  sort  of  thing  as  this  two  thousand  pounds' worth 
of  Stock,  belonging  to  Grizzle  Greenhorn.  There  is  a 
book  in  which  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  those  persons 
is  written,  who  have,  like  Grizzle,  a  right  to  draw  in- 
terest from  the  Government  out  of  the  taxes  ;  against 
each  name  in  this  list  is  placed  the  amount  of  the 
sum  for  which  the  person  has  a  right  to  draw  interest. 
Some  have  a  right  to  draw  interest  for  more  and  some 
for  less.  And  these  sums  make  up  what  is  called 
the  National  Debt.  Of  course,  the  Sinking  Fund 
Commissioners,  in  order  to  pay  off  the  National  Debt, 
or  any  part  of  it,  must  purchase  up  Stock  from  indi- 
viduals ;  or,  in  other  words,  pay  them  off  their  share 
of  the  Debt.  If,  for  instance,  Grizzle  Greenhorn 
has  a  mind  to  have  her  two  thousand  pounds  to  lay 
out  upon  land,  or  do  any  thing  else  with,  she  sells 
her  stock,  and,  if  it  so  happen,  she  may  sell  it  to  the 
Commissioners  ;  and  thus,  as  they  pay  her  for  it  with 
the  nation's  money,  it  is  said,  that,  by  this  transaction 
they  have  redeemed  (by  which  I  should  mean  paid 
oJJ)  two  thousand  pounds  of  the  National  Debt. 
Grizzle,  who  was  the  creditor,  has  got  her  money 
again ;  she  has  no  longer  any  right  to  draw  interest 
for  it ;  and,  of  course,  you  would  think,  that  these 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  61 

two  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  Deht  were  paid  off, 
and  that  the  nation,  that  we  ihe  people,  had  no  longer 
any  interest  to  pay  upon  it;  you  would  naturally 
think,  that  we  were  no  longer  taxed  to  pay  the  in- 
terest upon  this  part  of  the  Debt. 

Greatly,  however,  would  you  be  deceived ;  cruelly 
deceived,  if  you  did  think  so ;  for,  notwithstanding 
the  Commissioners  have  redeemed  these  two  thou- 
sand pounds,  we  have  still  to  pay  the  interest  of  them 
every  year  ;  we  are  still  taxed  for  the  money  where- 
with to  pay  this  interest,  just  in  the  same  way  as 
if  the  two  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  Debt  had 
not  been  redeemed  at  all,  but  still  belonged  to  Griz- 
zle Greenhorn  !  This  is  an  odd  way  of  redeeming  ; 
an  odd  way  of  paying  off ;  do  you  not  think  it  is, 
Neighbours  ?  We  have  before  seen,  that  the  National 
Debt  is  a  mortgage  upon  the  taxes.  It  is  constantly 
called  so  in  conversation,  and  in  writings  upon  the 
subject.  But,  should  not  either  of  you,  who  happened 
to  have  a  mortgage  upon  your  land  or  house,  think  it 
strange  if,  after  you  had  redeemed  a  part  of  the 
mortgage,  you  had  still  to  pay  interest  upon  the  part 
redeemed  as  well  as  upon  the  part  unredeemed  ? 
TO  REDEEM,  as  applied  to  money  engagements, 
means  to  discharge,  to  set  free  by  payment.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  the  word  redeem,  as  applied  to 
such  matters.  It  sometimes  means  to  rescue  or  to 
ransom,  from  captivity,  from  forfeiture,  or  from  peril 
of  any  sort,  by  paying  a  price.  But,  in  every  sense 
in  which  this  word  is  used,  it  always  implies  the  set- 
ting free  of  the  object  on  which  it  operates;  and, 
when  applied  to  a  mortgage,  a  bond,  a  note  of  hand, 
or  a  Debt  of  any  sort,  it  implies  the  paying  of  it  off. 
How,  then,  can  the  two  thousand  pounds'  worth  of 
Debt,-  purchased  from  Grizzle  Greenhorn,  by  our 
Sinking  Fund  Commissioners,  be  said  to  be  redeemed 
by  us,  if  we  are  still  taxed  to  pay  the  interest  upon 
it,  and,  of  course,  if  it  be  not  discharged,  and  not  set 
free? 

Nothing,  at  first  sight,  appears  more  plausible,  no 
6 


62  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

thing  more  reasonable,  nothing  more  clear,  than  the 
mode  above  described,  of  redeeming  the  Debt  by  pur- 
chasing from  the  several  individuals,  who,  little  Griz- 
zle Greenhorn,  own  the  Stock  or  the  Debt,  their  re- 
spective shares  thereof.  And,  the  operation  is  as 
simple  as  any  thing  can  be.  For,  the  Sinking  Fund 
Commissioners,  having,  for  instance,  received  two 
thousand  pounds  from  the  tax-gatherers,  in  virtue  of 
the  Sinking  Fund  Act,  go  and  purchase  Grizzle's 
Stock  ;  they  give  her  the  two  thousand  pounds  ;  her 
right  to  draw  interest  from  us  ceases;  her  share  of 
the  Stock  or  Debt  is  redeemed  or  paid  off;  and  her 
name  is  crossed  out  of  the  Book.  Ah  ;  but  alas ! 
the  names  of  our  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  are 
'written  in  the  Book  instead  of  hers !  Aye :  we 
have  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  two  thousand  pounds 
to  them  instead  of  to  her ;  and  our  taxes  on  account 
of  this,  which  is  called  the  redeemed  part  of  the 
Debt,  are  just  as  great  as  they  were  before  this  cu- 
rious work  of  redemption  began. 

"  Well  then,"  you  will  say,  "  what  does  this  thing 
mean;  and  what  can  it  have  been  intended  for?" 
Why,  to  speak  candidly  of  the  matter,  though  the 
thing  was  an  invention  of  PITT,  under  whose  sway 
so  much  mischief  came  upon  this  nation,  I  believe 
that  the  thing  was  well  meant.  I  believe  that  it  was 
intended  to  free  the  nation  from  its  Debt.  But,  I 
am  satisfied,  that  it  has  been  productive  of  no  small 
part  of  the  evils,  which  England  and  which  Europe 
have  experienced  since  its  invention  ;  for,  by  giving 
people  renewed  confidence  in  the  soli'dity  of  the 
Funds  or  Stocks,  it  rendered  Government  borrowing 
more  easy  ;  and,  of  course,  it  took  from  the  Minister 
that  check  to  the  making  of  wars  and  the  paying  of 
foreign  armies,  for  the  want  of  which  check  th^  Ex- 
penses and  Taxes  and  Debt  of  the  country  have  been 
so  fearfully  augmented,  to  say  nothing,  at  present, 
about  the  dreadful  changes  which  those  wars  have 
made  in  our  affairs  both  at  home  and  abroach 

To  produce  such  effects  was,  however,  certainly 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  63 

not  the  intention  of  the  scheme.  The  intention  was, 
that  the  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  should,  with 
the  money  put  into  their  hands  out  of  the  taxes,  pur- 
chase up  Stock,  or  parts  of  the  Debt,  belonging  to 
individuals  ;  that  the  parts  so  purchased  up,  should 
not  cease  to  exist ;  that,  they  should  be  written  in 
the  Great  Book  under  the  name  of  the  Commission- 
ers ;  that  the  Commissioners  should  receive  the  in- 
terest upon  them,  instead  of  its  being  received  by  in- 
dividuals as  before  ;  that  this  interest,  as  fast  as  it 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  Commissioners,  should, 
like  the  money  paid  to  them  annually  out  of  the 
taxes,  be  laid  out  in  purchasing  up  more  Stock  from 
individuals ;  and  that  the  thing  should  go  on  thus, 
till  the  last  of  the  Stock,  or  Debt,  got  into  the  hands 
of  the  Commissioners  ;  when,  of  course,  the  Govern- 
ment might  burn  the  Great  Book;  and  the  National 
Debt  would  be  paid  off. 

This  scheme  was  very  pretty  upon  paper ;  it  made 
a  fine  figure  in  the  newspapers  and  pamphlets  of  the 
day  ;  and  looked  quite  solemn  when  embodied  into 
an  Act  of  Parliament.  There  was,  to  be  sure,  when 
people  looked  into  the  matter  more  closely,  something 
rather  whimsical  in  the  idea  of  a  nation's  paying 
interest  to  itself ;  something  very  whimsical  in  a  na- 
tion's GETTINGMONEYby  paying  itself  interest 
'  upon  its  own  Stock.  Many  persons  thought  so,  at 
the  time,  and  some  said  so ;  but  the  formidable  tables 
of  figures  made  out  by  court  calculators,  and  the 
flowery  and  bold  speeches  of  PITT,  soon  put  all  such 
persons  out  of  countenance,  and  reduced  them  to  si- 
lence ;  or  exposed  them  to  the  charge  of  faction  and 
disaffection  and  disloyalty.  The  country,  infatuated 
with  its  "  heaven-born  Minister,"  became  deaf  to  the 
dictates  of  common  sense  ;  and,  with  as  much  fond- 
ness as  the  mother  hangs  over  her  smiling  babe,  it 
cherished  and  fostered  the  fatal  delusion. 

As  the  execution  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Act  pro- 
ceeded, more  and  more  of  the  Stock,  or  parts  of  the 
Debt,  became  of  course  entered  in  the  Great  Book  in 


64  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  names  of  the  Commissioners.  Hence  arose  a 
new  denomination  in  our  national  money  accounts; 
namely,  the  Redeemed  Debt ;  that  is,  the  parts  of  the 
Debt,  as  aforesaid,  purchased  up  by  the  Commission- 
ers, was  now  called  the  "  Redeemed  Debt ;"  a  phrase 
which  contains  a  contradiction  in  itself.  But,  still, 
it  was  unavoidable  ;  for,  it  was  not  paid  off ;  it  was 
bought  up,  but  we  had  still,  and  have  still,  to  pay 
interest  upon  it ;  and,  therefore,  it  could  not  be  said 
to  be  paid  off ;  for,  it  would  be  folly  too  gross  to  pretend 
that  we  have  paid  off  a  debt  or  a  mortgage,  for  which 
we  were  still  paying  interest.  If,  indeed,  the  parts 
of  the  debt,  which  were  purchased  up  by  the  Com- 
missioners, had  been,  at  once,  done  away,  and  we 
had  ceased  to  pay  interest  upon  them,  then  those 
parts  would  have  been  really  redeemed.  If,  for  in- 
stance, Grizzle  Greenhorn's  two  thousand  pounds' 
worth  of  Stock  had  been  crossed  out  of  the  Great 
Book,  and  had  not  been  inserted  in  it  again  under 
any  other  name,  that  two  thousand  pounds'  worth  of 
the  Debt  would  have  been  redeemed  in  reality.  This 
is  the  way  in  which  the  Sinking  Fund  of  the  Ame- 
rican States  operates.  They  raise  yearly  a  certain 
sum  in  taxes  ;  with  that  sum  they  purchase  up  part 
of  their  Debt ;  and  then  that  part  of  the  Debt  ceases 
to  exist  in  any  shape  whatever.  The  next  year  they 
raise  a  like  sum  in  taxes,  and  again  purchase  up  par- 
cels of  the  Debt.  And,  thus  they  proceed,  having 
every  succeeding  year,  less  and  less  interest  to  pay 
upon  their  Debt.  This  is  real  redemption  :  this 
is  real  paying  off.  But,  the  way  in  which  we  pro- 
ceed bears  no  resemblance  to  it ;  nor  has  any  thing 
in  common  with  it,  except  it  be  the  name. 

Let  us,  before  we  proceed  any  further,  take  a  view 
of  the  increase  of  the  interest  that  we  have  to  pay 
upon  the  Debt.  We  have  seen  in  Letter  III.,  page 
43,  how  the  debt  itself  has  gone  on  increasing.  But, 
we  have  not  yet  taken  a  look  at  the  increase  of  the 
INTEREST ;  though  this  is  very  material,  and,  in- 
deed, it  is  the  only  thing,  belonging  to  the  Debt, 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  65 

worthy  of  our  attention.  The  statement  of  the 
amount  of  the  Debt  itself  is  of  no  practical  use,  ex- 
cept as  it  serves  to  illustrate,  to  render  more  clear, 
the  part  of  the  subject  upon  which  we  now  are. 
For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Debt  is  nothing  more  than, 
a  right  possessed  by  certain  persons,  called  Stock- 
holders,, to  draw  interest  from  the  nation ;  or,  in 
other  words,  to  take  annually,  or  quarterly,  part  of 
the  taxes  raised  upon  the  people  at  large.  Let  us, 
therefore,  take  a  look  at  the  progress  of  this  interest. 
When  Q,UEEN  ANNE  came  to  the  throne 

in  1701,  the  annual  interest  on  the 

National  Debt  was £1,310,942 

When  GEORGE  I.  came  to  the  throne,  in 

1714 3,351,358 

Yvrhen  GEORGE  II.  came  to  the  throne, 

in  1727 2,217,551 

When  GEORGE  III.  came  to  the  throne, 

in  1760 .  .  4,840,821 

After  the  AMERICAN  WAR,  in  1784, 

and  just  before  the  making  of  Pitt's 

Sinking  Fund 9,669,435 

At  the  latter  end  of  the  ANTI-JACOBIN 

WAR,  in  1801    ........      21,778,018 

For  the  LAST  YEAR,  that  is  1809  .  .  32,870,608 

There  are  included  in  this  sum  "  charges  for  man- 
agement;"  and,  as  we  have  before  seen,  there  is 
some  of  the  Debt  (small  portions)  called  the  loans, 
or  debts,  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany ',  and  of  the 
Prince  Regent  of  Portugal,  which,  it  is  possible, 
they  may  repay  us  ;  but,  this  is  as,  as  it  is  called  in 
the  account  laid  before  Parliament,  during  the  last 
session,  the  "  Total  charge  on  account  of  Debt,  pay- 
able-in  Great  Britain."  And,  let  me  ask  any  sen- 
sible man,  what  consequence  it  can  be  to  us  what  the 
Debt  is  called,  what  consequence  by  what  name  the 
different  sorts  of  it  may  go,  so  that  the  interest  upon  it 
still  goes  on  increasing,  and  so  that  we  have  to  pay 
the  whole  of  that  interest  out  of  the  taxes  ? 

When  PITT'S  Sinking  Fund  was  established,  there 
6* 


66  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

was  a  time  fixed,  when  the  interest  should  begin  to 
be  diminished.  I  mean,  a  time  was  fixed,  when  the 
people  should  no  longer  pay  taxes  to  defray  the  in- 
terest upon  the  Stock,  or  parts  of  the  Debt,  which 
should  after  that  time  be  purchased  up  by  the  Com- 
missioners. The  time  so  fixed  was  1808,  two  years 
ago.  The  year  was  not  named  in  the  Act ;  but,  it 
was  known  to  a  certainty  ;  because  this  ceasing  to 
pay  interest  was  to  begin,  when  the  interest  upon  the 
Stock,  or  parts  of  the  Debt,  bought  up,  together  Avith 
the  sums  paid  to  the  Commissioners  out  of  the  taxes, 
should  amount  to  a  certain  sum  (four  millions  an- 
nually ;)  and,  as  the  sums  to  be  paid  to  them  were 
fixed,  it  was  a  mere  question  of  arithmetic  when  the 
paying  of  interest  would  cease,  agreeably  to  the  terms 
of  the  Act ;  as  expressed  in  the  XXth  clause,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  whenever  the  whole  sum  annually  re- 
ceivable by  the  said  Commissioners,  including,  as 
well,  the  quarterly  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  pounds  herein  before  directed  to  be  issued 
from  the  Exchequer,  as  the  several  Annuities  and 
Dividends  of  Slock  to  be  placed  to  the  account  of 
the  said  Commissioners  in  the  Books  of  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England,  by  virtue 
of  this  Act,  shall  amount  in  the  whole  to  FOUR  MIL- 
LIONS ANNUALLY,  the  Dividends  due  on  such  part  of 
the  Principal  or  Capital  Stock  as  shall  thence-forth 
be  paid  off  by  the  said  Commissioners,  and  the  Mo- 
nies payable  on  such  annuities  for  Lives  or  Years  as 
may  afterwards  cease  and  determine,  SHALL  NO 
LONGER  BE  ISSUED  AT  THE  RECEIPT 
OF  HIS  MAJESTY'S  EXCHEQUER,  but  shall 
be  CONSIDERED  AS  REDEEMED  by  Parlia- 
ment, and  shall  remain  to  be  disposed  of  as  Parlia- 
ment shall  direct."  In  what  way  it  might  have 
been  supposed,  that  Parliament,  in  its  wisdom,  would 
dispose  of  these  parcels  of  redeemed  debt,  I  shall 
not,  for  my  part,  presume  to  hazard  a  conjecture ; 
but,  as  was  before  observed,  it  was  easy  (the  sums 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  67 

being  given)  to  ascertain  the  time,  when  the  provi- 
sion in  this  clause  would  begin  to  operate  ;  and,  that 
time  was,  the  year  1808. 

There  was  another  Act,  passed  seven  years  later, 
(1792,)  allotting  more  of  the  taxes  to  the  same  pur- 
pose (Chapter  52  of  the  32nd  year  of  this  king's 
reign ;)  and  still  the  same  provision  was  made ; 
namely,  that,  when  the  produce  of  the  Sinking  Fund 
should  amount  to  4  millions  annually,  all  the  Stocky 
or  parts  of  the  Debt,  that  should  be  purchased  up 
by  the  Commissioners  after  that  time,  SHOULD 
NO  LONGER  HAVE  INTEREST  PAID  UPON 
IT  OUT  OF  THE  TAXES  ;  but  that  these  parts 
of  the  Debt  should  (mark  the  words)  "  be  considered 
AS  REDEEMED."  And  so  they  would.  They 
really,  in  that  case  would  have  been  redeemed  ;  but 
the  word  redeemed  is  now  applied,  even  in  the  Ac- 
counts laid  before  Parliament,  to  those  parts  of  the 
Debt  bought  up  by  the  Commissioners,  the  dividend, 
or  interest,  on  which  parts,  IS  STILL  ISSUED 
AT  THE  EXCHEQUER  5  that  is  to  say,  is  still 
paid  out  of  the  taxes!  And  all  this  goes  on 
amongst  "  the  thinking"  people  of  England  ! 

But  what  was  done  in  the  long-expected  year  1808  ? 
What  was  done,  when  the  year  of  promise  came  ? 
This  is  the  most  interesting  part  of  this  most  curious 
history  ;  but,  as  to  bring  to  a  close  the  whole  of  the 
discussion,  relating  to  the  Sinking  Fund,  would  ex- 
tend this  letter  to  double  its  present  length,  1  think 
it  better  to  make  the  remaining  part  of  it  the  subject 
of  another  Letter,  beseeching  you,  in  the  meanwhile, 
to  make  up,  by  your  patience  in  the  perusal,  for 
whatever  want  01  clearness  may  be  discovered  in 
the  writer. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen,  your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  September  14,  1810. 


68  PAPER    AGAINST  GOLD. 


LETTER  V. 


"  I  would  inculcate  one  truth  with  peculiar  earnestness ;  namely,  that 
a  Revolution  is  not  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  National  Bankruptcy." 
i— Pursuits  of  Literature. 


Digression  respecting  the  use  of  Bank-Notes  as  a  Political 
Support  to  the  Government — Mr.  Addington's  Notion  of 
convincing  Buonaparte  by  the  means  of  a  Tax — Answer  of 
the  Mpniteur— Advice  given  to  Mr.  Addington  in  the  Re- 
gister in  1803— Passage  quoted  from  a  Government  News- 
paper, describing  Bank-Notes  as  necessary  to  the  Existence 
of  the  Government — Same  Doctrine  promulgated  by  Blr. 
Paine  in  his  Rights  of  Man — How  different  is  this  from 
what  the  World  has  been  told — Effect  of  it  to  encourage 
the  Enemy — Resume  the  subject  of  the  Sinking  Fund — 
No  Interest  taken  off  in  1808— Addington's  Act  of  1802— 
George  Rose  quoted  to  prove  that  it  was  clearly  held  forth 
to  the  Nation,  that  Taxes  would  be  repealed  in  consequence 
of  the  Sinking  Fund— P. S.  Sir  John  Sinclair's  Pamphlet. 

GENTLEMEN, 

BEFORE  we  resume  the  discussion,  relating  to 
Pitt's  Grand  Sinking  Fund,  which  want  of  room 
obliged  us  to  break  off,  at  the  close  of  the  last  Letter, 
I  think  it  may  be  useful  to  submit  to  you  here  an 
observation  or  two,  calculated  to  obviate  any  un- 
founded apprehensions  that  might  otherwise  be  ex- 
cited by  the  apparently  inevitable  fate  of  the  paper- 
money  ;  and  this  I  deem  the  more  necessary,  as  pub- 
lications are  daily  appearing,  from  the  pens  of  igno- 
rant or  interested  persons,  the  evident  tendency,  and, 
indeed,  object,  of  which  is,  to  persuade  the  public, 
that  the  existence  of  the  Government ;  that  the  ex- 
istence of  law  and  order ;  that  the  safety  to  persons 
and  property  ;  nay,  that  the  continuance  of  the  very 
breath  in  our  nostrils,  depend  upon  the  credit  of  the 
bank-notes. 

The  author,  from  whose  writings  I  have  taken  my 


PAPER    AGAINST   GOLD.  69 

motto  to  this  present  Number  of  my  work,  was,  you 
see,  of  a  very  different  opinion  ;  and,  I  have  quoted 
his  sentiment  upon  the  subject,  because  his  work  is 
well  known  to  be  of  what  is  called  the  ANTI- JACOBIN 
kind,  that  is  to  say,  a  work,  the  tendency  of  which  is 
to  prevent  men  like  you  from  having  any  thing  to 
say  or  to  do,  any  more  than  your  horses,  in  the  af- 
fairs of  Government.  This  writer,  who,  however, 
might  mean  well,  and  who  is  certainly  a  very  clever 
man,  so  far  from  supposing  that  the  existence  of  the 
Government  depended  upon  the  credit  of  bank-notes, 
is,  you  see,  fixed  in  his  opinion,  and  an  opinion  that 
he  wishes  "  to  inculcate  with  peculiar  earnestness," 
that  a  REVOLUTION,  thereby  meaning  a  change  in  the 
form  of  Government,  is  not  the  necessary  conse- 
quence, even  of  a  national  bankruptcy  ;  that  is  to 
say,  not  only  a  total  discredit  of  all  the  paper-money 
and  especially  the  Bank  of  England  Notes,  but  also 
an  utter  inability  to  pay,  in  any  way  whatever,  the 
interest  upon  the  National  Debt,  or  any  part  of  it. 

This  is  my  opinion  also,  as  it  always  has  been 
since  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  subject.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  present  war,  Mr.  ADDINGTON,  who 
was  then  the  Prime  Minister,  told  the  House  of 
Commons,  that  one  of  his  principal  objects  in  laying 
on  the  Property  Tax  and  other  war  taxes,  was,  "  to 
convince  Buonaparte,  that  it  was  hopeless  for  him 
to  contend  with  our  finances"  To  which  the 
MONITEUR,  or  French  government-newspaper,  re- 
plied :  "  Pay  your  bank-notes  in  gold  and  silver, 
and  then  we  will  believe  you,  without  your  going 
to  war."* 

Whether  the  Minister  made  good  his  promise ; 
whether  he  has  convinced  Buonaparte,  that,  it  was 
"  hopeless  for  him  to  contend  with  our  finances" 
you.  Gentlemen,  are  as  likely  to  be  able  to  judge  as 
any  body  that  I  know.  I,  for  my  part,  blanked  the 
Minister,  for  holding  out  such  a  motive  for  his  tax- 
ing measures.  I  said  to  him :  The  true  way  of  con- 

*  Register,  Vol.  III.,  page  948,  June,  1803. 


70  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

vincing  your  enemy,  that  this  war  upon  your  finances 
will  be  useless,  is  to  state  explicitly  to  the  world, 
that  you  are  not  at  all  afraid  of  the  consequences  of 
what  is  called  a  national  bankruptcy  ;  for,  while 
you  endeavour  to  make  people  believe  that  such  an 
event  cannot  possibly  happen,  they  will  certainly 
think  that  you  regard  it,  if  it  should  happen,  as  irre- 
trievable ruin  and  destruction;  and,  therefore,  as 
you  never  can  quite  overcome  their  apprehensions, 
the  best  way  is  to  be  silent  upon  the  subject,  or  to 
set  the  terrijic  bug-bear  at  defiance.  To  Bona- 
parte's  exultation  at  our  approaching  bankruptcy,  the 
answer  is  always  ready :  France  has  been  a  bank- 
rupt ;  France  has  not  paid  her  paper-money  in 
specie  ;  yet,  France  is  not  the  weaker  for  that ; 
France  is,  in  spite  of  her  ruined  finances,  in  spite  of 
the  long  pamphlets  of  Sir  Francis  D'lvernois  and 
Mr.  Rose,  in  spite  of  the  longer  speeches  of  Lord 
Mornington,  Lord  Auckland,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  in  spite  of 
the  innumerable  columns  of  figures  which  these  no- 
blemen and  gentlemen  have  drawn  up  in  battle  array 
against  her ;  in  spite  of  all  this,  France  is  yet  pow- 
erful, yea,  much  more  powerful  than  she  was  before 
she  experienced  what  is  called  a  national  bankrupt- 
cy. What  ground,  therefore,  have  the  French  to 
rejoice  at  our  finances  being  about  to  undergo  a  simi- 
lar operation  ? 

Such  were  my  sentiments  and  my  reasoning  upon 
this  subject,  seven  years  ago  ;  a  time,  when  to  pro- 
nounce the  word  depreciation,  as  applied  to  bank 
notes,  was  sure  to  expose  a  man  to  charges  very 
little  short  of  treason,  which  charges  were  made  by 
those  very  persons  who  have  now  declared  the 
greater  half  of  our  bank  notes  to  be  "  destructive 
assignats"  and  who  have  called  them  "  vile  and 
dirty  rags"  My  opinion  was,  and  it  still  is,  that 
the  total  destruction  of  the  paper  money  would  not 
cause  any  change  injurious  to  this  kingdom  ;  and, 
indeed,  I  should  have  a  most  hearty  contempt  for 
the  constitution  and  for  the  whole  form  and  compo- 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  71 

sition  of  our  Government,  if  -I  thought  that  their 
existence  depended  upon  the  credit  of  bank-notes. 
There  are,  however,  those  who  think  just  the  re- 
verse ;  and  these  are,  too,  writers,  who  appear  to  be 
entirely  devoted  to  the  Government :  one  of  whom 
goes  so  far  as  to  say,  that  the  Government  has  no 
other  trust-worthy  support  than  that  which  it  de- 
rives from  the  bank-notes.  "  The  human  mind," 
says  he,  "  is  sensible  only  of  the  present  good,  or 
evil,  and  has  too  little  thought  to  anticipate  conse- 
quences, and  if  it  was  not  for  the  immediate  per- 
sonal interest  of  a  very  large  and  informed  part 
of  the  community  in  the  National  Debt,  Patronage 
and  Paper  Currency,  GOVERNMENT  COULD 
HAVE  NO  EXISTENCE,  standing  insulated  on 
the  pure  basis  of  duty,  and  remote  national  and 
respective  good.  The  conduct  of  Sweden,  America, 
Ireland,  and  the  Jacobins  of  England,  in  their  par- 
tiality for  France,  exemplify  a  want  of  sense  to 
execute  the  maxims  of  EPICURUS;  The  paper  curren- 
cy of  bank-notes  (there  should  be  no  Country  Bank) 
offers  to  Government  a  most  indestructible  sup- 
port, because  IT  MAKES  THE  DAILY  BREAD 
OF  EVERY  INDIVIDUAL  DEPEND  SUB- 
STANTIALLY ON  THE  SAFETY  OF  GO- 
VERNMENT, whereas  money,  which  may  be 
hoarded,  separates  the  individual  from  the  public 
safety.  In  the  present  revolutionary  state  of  the 
world,  I  think  our  paper  currency  a  most  miraculous 
'mean  of  sal  cat  ion,  and  the  man  who  would  pro- 
pose the  payment  of  bank-notes  in  specie  at  any 
period,  to  separate  individual  property  from  public 
safety,  might  as  well  propose  the  burning  of  the 
Navy  to  protect  the  commerce  of  the  icor/c/."* 

Gentlemen,  do  you  remember  he  writings  of 
PAINE  ?  Do  you  remember  the  Rights  of  Man,  for 
the  writing  of  which  the  author  was  prosecuted 
by  the  then  Attorney  General  who  is  now  the  Lord 
Chancellor  ?  Do  you  remember  the  Rights  of  Man, 

*  MORNING  POST  newspaper:  14th  Sept.,  1810. 


72  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

the  author  of  which  was  prosecuted,  and,  being 
absent,  was  outlawed ;  the  publishers  of  which 
were  prosecuted,  all  over  the  kingdom  ;  the  circula- 
ting of  which  was  forbidden  by  proclamation ;  and, 
to  counteract  the  principles  of  which,  ASSOCIATIONS 
were  formed,  of  the  rich  and  the  powerful  ?  Well,  it 
was  in  this  very  work,  that  the  doctrine  here  laid 
down  by  this  government  writer,  was  first  started. 
PAINE  said,  that  the  existence  of  the  Government 
depended  upon  the  existence  of  the  bank-notes ; 
and  that,  the  question  was  not,  how  long  the  British 
Government  would  stand  ;  but  how  long  the  Fund- 
ing System  would  last.  PAINE'S  mode  of  reasoning 
was,  if  I  am  correct  in  my  recollection,  as  nearly  as 
possible  like  that  of  this  government  writer.  He 
laid  it  down  as  an  admitted  fact,  that  the  people 
(owing  to  causes  that  he  stated)  must  be  wholly  in- 
different about  the  fate  of  the  Government  /  but, 
that,  as  so  many  of  them  were,  either  by  holding 
Stocks  or  bank-notes,  interested  in  the  fate  of  the 
Government,  they  would,  while  the  Stocks  or  bank- 
notes lasted,  continue  to  support  the  Government, 
whatever  might  be  their  feelings  towards  it.  But, 
that,  when,  from  whatever  cause,  the  Funding  Sys- 
tem should  fail,  not  a  soul  would  be  found  to  lift  a 
finger,  or,  even  to  express  a  wish  in  favour  of  the 
existence  of  the  Government. 

Just  the  same,  or  rather  more,  is  now  said  by  this 
government  writer;  a  writer,  one  half  of  whose  pages 
are  filled  with  invectives  against  those  whom  he  calls 
the  friends  of  the  Emperor  of  France.  But,  how  is 
it  possible  for  any  thing  to  be  written  more  agreeable 
to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  than  what  this  writer  has 
put  forth  ?  Until  now  the  world  has  been  told  that 
we  entertained  a  real  love  for  our  Government ; 
that  we  were  attached  to  our  constitution  because  it 
afforded  such  fine  protection  to  our  persons  and  our 
property  •  that  we  loved  the  constitution,  because 
it  insured  to  us  the  enjoyment  of  liberty,  and  de- 
fended us  against  every  species  of  oppression  ;  that 


PAPER    AGAINST   GOLD.  73 

we  liad  made  numerous  sacrifices,  and  that  we  were 
ready  to  make  as  many  more,  nay,  even  ;c  to  spend 
our  last  shilling  and  shed  the  last  drop  of  our 
blood"  for  the  sake  of  these  liberties  and  in  defence 
of  a  king,  whom  we  so  dearly  loved,  and,  in  grati- 
tude for  the  blessings  enjoyed  during  whose  reign, 
we  held  a  Jubilee.  Until  NOW,  this  is  what  the 
world  has  been  told.  But  NOW  it  is  told,  by  this 
loyalty-professing  writer,  that  the  only  motive 
whence  we  support  the  Government  at  all,  is,  to 
preserve  the  value  of  the  bank-notes  that  we  hold ; 
that,  if  it  was  not  for  the  immediate  personal  interest 
of  so  many  people  in  the  National  Debt,  and  for 
patronage  and  paper  currency,  the  Government 
could  have  no  existence  ;  that  we  support  the  Go- 
vernment because,  without  its  existence,  the  bank- 
notes would  fall,  and  because,  by  the  number  of  bank- 
notes, we  are  thus  made  to  depend  upon  the  safety 
of  Government  for  our  daily  bread;  and  that, 
therefore,  the  man  who  would  propose  the  payment 
of  bank-notes  in  gold  and  silver  at  any  period, 
might  as  well  propose  the  burning  of  the  navy,  or,  in 
other  words,  the  giving  up  of  the  country  to  France. 

What,  Gentlemen  !  are  we  never,  then,  to  see  gold 
and  silver  again  ?  Every  Minister  ;  every  Member 
of  Parliament ;  every  one  of  those  who  endeavoured 
to  palliate  the  measure  of  protecting  the  Bank  Com- 
pany from  paying  their  notes  in  gold  and  silver ; 
every  one  of  them  "  lamented  the  necessity ,"  as 
they  called  it,  of  the  measure.  But,  NOW,  behold, 
we  are  told  that  it  was  a  good  thing  ;  and  not  only 
a  good  thing,  but  that  the  Government  could  not 
exist  without  it!  Gentlemen,  we  call  ourselves  a 
"  thinking  people  ;"  but,  believe  me,  that  this  is 
what  would  not  have  been  said  to  any  other  civilized 
people  upon  earth. 

We  might  here  easily  show  how  encouraging  a 
prospect  doctrines  of  this  sort  hold  out  to  our  enemy, 
and  how  strong  an  inducement  to  use  all  those 
means,  whether  in  the  way  of  attack  or  of  menace, 


74  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

which  are  likely  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  paper- 
money,  that  being,  if  these  doctrines  be  sound,  the 
sure  and  certain  way  of  destroying  our  Government. 
But,  another  opportunity  will  offer  for  observations 
upon  these  matters  ;  and,  it  is  now  time  that  we 
return  to  our  inquiry  into  the  SINKING  FUND. 

In  the  last  Letter,  page  66,  67,  having  stated  the 
provisions,  made  in  the  ACTS  of  1786  and  1792,  for 
the  nation's  ceasing  to  pay  interest  upon  the  Stock 
that  should  be  redeemed,  or  bought  up  by  the  Com- 
missioners, after  the  year  1808 ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  nation's  ceasing  to  pay  taxes  on  account  of  the 
Stock,  or  part  of  the  Debt,  which  should  be  bought 
up  after  that  time :  having  stated  these  provisions, 
we  were  proceeding  to  inquire —  What  was  done  in 
the  long-expected  year,  1808?  What  was  done 
when  the  year  of  promise  came? 

Why,  my  Neighbours,  nothing  at  all  was  done : 
just  nothing  at  all  in  the  way  provided  for.  The 
nation  ceased  to  pay  no  dividends  of  interest ;  and, 
of  course,  this  work  of  redemption  caused  none  of  its 
taxes  to  be  taken  off.  "  Well,"  say  you,  "  but  is  it 
possible,  that,  after  such  a  solemn  proceeding ;  after 
the  express  and  positive  declaration  in  two  Acts  of 
Parliament,  that  the  dividends  of  interest  should  cease 
to  be  paid  in  1808  ;  is  it  possible  that,  after  that,  all 
the  dividends  did  continue  to  be  paid,  jws£  the  same  as 
if  those  Acts  had  never  been  passed  ?"  O,  yes  !  It 
is  not  only  possible  to  be  so,  but  it  is  so.  All  the 
dividends  have  continued  to  be  paid  ;  and  are  paid 
to  this  day.  The  above-mentioned  provisions,  in 
the  Acts  of  1786  and  1792  were  repealed.  The 
Parliament  undid  what  it  had  before  done.  It  did 
away  the  provisions  which  it  had  mado  in  1786  and 
1792.  It  passed  another  Act,  which  said  that  those 
provisions  should  not  be  carried  into  effect ;  or,  in 
other  words,  that  which  was  law  before  was  no 
longer  law. 

This  new  Act  was  passed  in  the  month  of  June, 
1802  j  ADDINGTON,  the  successor  and  the  friend  of 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  75 

PITT,  being  then  Minister.  This  Act  (which  is 
Chapter  71  of  the  42d  year  of  the  reign  of  George 
III.)  is  entitled—"  An  Act  to  amend  and  RENDER 
MORE  EFFECTUAL  two  Acts  passed  in  the 
twenty-sixth  and  thirty-second  years  of  the  reign  of 
His  present  Majesty,  for  the  reduction  of  the  Na- 
tional Debt."  This  Act,  which  was  to  render  those 
two  Acts  more  effectual,  sets  out  by  stating,  that 
the  said  two  Acts  had  been  by  experience  found  "to 
be  attended  with  most  beneficial  consequences  to  the 
public  credit  of  the  country  ;"  and,  having  made 
that  declaration,  it  sets  to  work,  and  repeals  the  two 
provisions  above-mentioned  ;  and,  of  course,  when 
the  year  1808  came,  when  the  year  of  expectation 
arrive-d,  no  dividends  ceased  to  be  paid,  and  interest 
upon  the  whole  of  the  Debt  was  still  paid,  and  is 
still  paid  to  this  day. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  hardly  to  be  believed,  that  any 
men,  who,  like  PITT  and  his  associates  and  support- 
ers, had  invented  and  caused  to  be  passed,  the  two 
first-mentioned  Acts,  could  propose  the  last-mention- 
ed Act,  that  is  to  say,  the  Act  of  1802.  Not  only, 
however,  did  they  propose  it,  but  the  ANTI- JACOBIN 
writers  laughed  m  our  faces  and  called  us  fools,  if 
not  levellers  and  Jacobins,  if  we  ventured  to  express 
any  doubt  at  all  of  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  any  of 
these  successive  measures  ;  and,  these  writers  stout- 
ly denied,  that  it  ever  was  intended  to  take  off  any 
of  the  taxes  in  1808  ;  and,  of  course,  they  maintain- 
ed, that  we,  who  felt  disappointment  in  this  respect, 
were  fools  for  our  pains,  and,  indeed,  they  expressed 
themselves  thus,  that  we  were  "  nature's  fools" 
and  not  the  fools  of  the  Minister. 

Never,  surely,  were  any  portion  of  mankind  treat- 
ed with  such  barefaced  contempt  as  the  people  of 
England  were,  at  the  time  referred  to,  by  the  venal 
writers  of  newspapers,  pamphlets,  magazines,  and 
reviews,  who,  seeing  the  people  terrified  out  of  their 
senses,  by  alternate  alarms  within  and  without, 
seemed  to  think  that  he  was  the  best  man  who  could 


76  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

show  the  greatest  degree  of  scorn  for  their  under- 
standing and  character.  Had  not  this  been  their 
persuasion,  would  they  have  dared  to  tell  us,  that 
none  but  fools  ever-  expected  the  Sinking  Fund  to 
produce  a  repeal  of  taxes,  when  it  must  still  remain 
in  the  memory  of  every  man,  who  was  then  at  all 
conversant  in  political  matters,  that  the  repeal  oj 
taxes  ;  the  lessening  of  the  taxes  ;  the  making  of 
their  burthens  less,  was  the  promise  held  forth  to 
the  people  by  the  supporters  of  PITT  ;  nay,  when  it 
is  notorious,  that  PITT  owed  the  establishment  of 
his  tremendous  power  to  the  opinion  which  the 
people  entertained,  that  he  had  discovered,  and 
would  put  in  practice,  the  means  of  reducing  the 
load  of  their  taxes  ?  This,  as  the  great  end  of 
his  schemes,  was  so  much  talked  of;  it  is  so  well 
known,  that  this  was  so  distinctly  stated  in  the 
speeches  in  Parliament,  and  so  many  times  repeated, 
that  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  trouble  you  with  any 
proof  of  the  fact ;  yet,  considering  that  the  point  is 
of  great  importance,  I  will  put  the  matter  beyond 
all  dispute  by  a  reference  to  a  work  on  the  increase 
of  the  Resources  of  the  kingdom,  published  in  1799, 
under  the  name  of  GEORGE  ROSE,  who  was  then  a 
Secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  who  is  now  Treasu- 
rer of  the  Navy  and  a  Privy  Counsellor,  and  who, 
in  the  execution  of  the  work  about  to  be  cited,  was, 
doubtless,  assisted  by  PITT  himself.  Indeed,  this 
must  have  been  the  case ;  or,  at  least,  it  must  be 
believed,  that  nothing,  upon  such  a  subject,  and 
under  the  name  of  his  official  Secretary,  would  be 
published  without  PITT'S  previous  approbation.  In 
this  work,  which  is  entitled,  "  A  Brief  Examination 
into  the  Increase  of  the  Revenue,  Commerce,  and 
Manufactures  of  Great  Britain,  from  1792  to  1799 ;" 
in  this  work  the  hopeful  effects  of  the  Sinking  Funds 
of  1786  and  1792  are  pointed  out,  and  the  writer 
says  : — "  By  the  operation  of  these  sinking-funds, 
without  any  further  intervention  of  Parliament,  the 
one  existing  before  the  war  will  attain  its  maximum 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

(£4,000,000  a  year)  most  probably,  in  1808,  in  no 
case  later  than  February,  1811.  As  the  dividends 
due  on  such  parts  of  the  old  debt  as  shall  be  paid  off 
after  the  sinking-fund  shall  have  attained  its  maxi- 
mum,  and  the  annuities  which  shall  afterwards  fall 
in,  will  be  at  the  disposal  of  Parliament,  the  period 
of  REPEALING  TAXES  annually,  to  an 
amount  equal  thereto,  cannot  be  delayed  more  than 
nine,  ten,  or  eleven  years" 

Need  I  ask  you,  Gentlemen,  whether  you  have 
heard  of  any  repealing  of  taxes  ?  Whether  you 
have  felt  your  load  of  taxation  lightened  ?  Whe- 
ther you  pay  less  taxes,  than  you  paid  when  this 
placeman  wrote  his  book  in  1799  ?  No :  these 
questions  I  need  not  put  to  you  ;  nor  need  I  ask  you 
what  are  your  feelings  towards  those  who  fed  you 
with  hopes  of  a  diminution  of  your  burdens ;  nor 
need  I,  perhaps,  say  one  more  word  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Sinking  Fund,  not  to  have  seen  through 
which  by  this  time  would  argue  a  much  greater 
want  of  discernment  than  I  am  disposed  to  attribute 
to  any  part  of  my  countrymen,  and  especially  to 
you,  whose  discerning  faculties  have,  as  to  matters 
of  this  sort,  been,  of  late,  pretty  well  sharpened  by 
experience.  Nevertheless,  with  the  hope  of  leaving 
no  possibility  of  bewildering  any  body  in  future, 
with  regard  to  the  nature  or  effect  of  the  Sinking 
Fund,  I  shall  add  some  additional  remarks  ;  but,  as 
these  remarks  will  open  to  us  quite  new  views  of 
the  matter,  and  I  will  extend  to  some  length,  I  shall 
postpone  them  to  my  next ;  and  I  remain,  in  the 
meanwhile,  Your  faithful  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  Sept.  17,  1810. 

P.  S.  A  pamphlet,  entitled,  "OBSERVATIONS  ON 
THE  REPORT  OP  THE  BULLION  COMMITTEE,"  has  just 
been  published  by  Sir  JOHN  SINCLAIR,  who  is,  it 
seems,  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  who  is  said  to 

7* 


78  PAPER   AGAINST  GOLD. 

have  been  recently  made  a  Privy  Counsellor.  So 
much  of  such  gross  ignorance,  in  so  short  a  compass, 
I  do  not  recollect  to  have  met  with  in  the  course  of 
my  reading,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  Morning  Post 
newspaper,  or  in  the  British  Critic  Review.  Such 
a  publication  would  be  wholly  unworthy  of  serious 
notice,  were  it  not  pretty  evidently  the  vehicle  of 
the  sentiments  and  views  of  others.  For  this  reason, 
some  of  its  prominent  absurdities  will  be  noticed, 
when  I  come  to  that  part  of  my  subject  to  which 
they  more  particularly  belong.  In  the  mean  time, 
in  order  to  furnish  the  means  of  judging  of  this  wri- 
ter's depth  of  understanding,  take  the  following 
specimen  from  a  former  work  of  his,  and  compare 
his  theory  with  the  practice  now  before  our  eyes. 
"  The  PUBLIC  DEBTS  of  a  nation,  not  only  attract 
riches  from  abroad,  with  a  species  of  magnetic  in- 
fluence, but  they  also  retain  money  at  home  which 
otherwise  would  be  exported,  and  which,  if  sent  to 
other  countries,  might  possibly  be  attended  with 
pernicious  consequences  to  the  State,  whose  wealth 
was  carried  out  of  it.  If  France,  for  example,  main- 
tained its  wars  by  borrowing  money,  and  England 
raised  all  its  within  the  year,  the  necessary  conse- 
quence would  be,  that  all  the  loose  and  unemployed 
money  of  England,  would  naturally  be  transmitted 
to  France,  where  it  would  be  placed  out  to  advan- 
tage." This  is  quite  sufficient.  The  next  time  that 
Sir  JOHN  thinks  of  writing  upon  matters  of  this  sort, 
he  will  do  well  to  go,  previously,  and  take  a  lesson 
of  Mrs.  DE  YONGE.  She  will  be  able  to  tell  him  for 
a  certainty,  whether  National  Debts  have  a  tenden- 
cy to  keep  money  at  home,  to  prevent  it  from  being 
exported,  and  to  bring  money  from  abroad.  She 
will  also  be  able  to  give  him  a  lesson  upon  deprecia- 
tion, in  a  way,  which,  perhaps,  will  make  the  thing 
comprehensible  even  to  him. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  79 


LETTER  VI. 


"  It  is  not  altogether  improbable,  that,  when  the  nation  becomes  he 

of  its  Debts,  and  is  cruelly  oppressed  by  them,  some  daring  projector  may 
arise  with  visionary  schemes  for  their  discharge;  and,  as  public  credit 
will  begin,  by  that  time,  to  be  a  little  frail,  the  least  touch  will  destroy  it ; 
and  in  this  manner  it  will  die  of  the  Doctor.  But,  it  is  more  probable,  that 
the  breach  of  national  faith  will  be  the  necessary  effect  of  wars,  defeats, 
misfortunes,  and  public  calamities,  or  even,  perhaps,  of  victories  and  con- 
quests."—HUME  on  Public  Credit. 

Saying  that  a  Man  writes  from  a  Prison  is  not  a  satisfactory 
Refutation  of  his  Argument — Proceed  with  the  subject  of 
the  Sinking  Fund— Alleged  grounds  of  Addington's  Act  in 
1802— The  time  when  it  was  to  hegin  to  yield"  us  Relief,  to 
wit,  45  years— Mr.  Brand's  Answer  to  an  Argument  of  mine 
— He  denies  that  interest  is  paid  upon  the  Redeemed  Stock 
— Acts  of  Parliament  and  Public  Accounts  say  the  contrary 
— Examination  of  the  Example  stated  by  Mr.  Brand — 
Great  Error  in  regarding  things  as  alike  which  are  essen- 
tially dissimilar  in  their  properties — Consequence  of  this 
error  shown  in  the  supposed  case  of  Thrifty — Grand  Fal- 
lacy in  supposing  that  what  we  pay  to  support  the  Sinking 
Fund,  would  otherwise  be  of  no  use  to  us — Conclusion  of 
the  subject  of  the  Sinking  Fund— P.  S.  Mr.  Randall 
Jackson's  Speech  at  the  Bank  Company's  House,  in 
Threadneedle  Street. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IT  was  naturally  to  be  expected,  that  those  venal 
men,  who,  for  want  of  industry  to  "  labour  with  their 
hands  the  thing  that  is  good,"  and  from  a  desire  to 
live  upon  the  labour  of  others,  have  chosen  the  oc- 
cupation of  writing, 'instead  of  obeying  the  voice  of 
nature,  which  bade  them  use  the  brush  and  not  the 
pen,  to  blacken  shoes  and  not  paper ;  it  was  natu- 
rally to  be  expected  that  those  venal  men,  who  gain 
their  .livelihood  by  serving  the  corrupt  and  by  de- 
ceiving the  weak,  and  the  number  of  whom,  in  this 
Town,  is,  unfortunately,  but  too  great  ;  it  was  na- 
turally to  be  expected  that  this  description  of  men 
would  feel  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  these  Letters, 
which,  by  making  honest  and  useful  truths  so  fami- 


80  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

liar  to  the  minds  of  the  people,  threatened  literary 
venality  with  destruction.  Accordingly  these  in- 
struments of  Corruption  have  shown  their  anger  and 
resentment  against  me ;  but,  the  only  answer  they 
have  offered  to  me  is  this :  "  that  I  discharge  my  gun 
from  a  stone-battery  ;"  meaning  that  I  write  from 
a  prison  ;  therein  giving  the  public  a  specimen  of 
their  wit  as  well  as  of  their  manliness.  This  is  al- 
ways the  way ;  it  is  the  constant  practice  of  those, 
who,  while  they  are,  from  whatever  motive,  impelled 
to  oppose  a  writer,  want  either  the  materials  or  the 
ability  to  show  that  he  is  wrong ;  and,  Gentlemen, 
you  may  lay  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  when  any  pub- 
lication is  answered  by  abuse,  and  especially  per- 
sonal abuse,  the  author  of  such  publication  is  right, 
or,  at  least,  that  his  abusers  want  the  ability  to  show 
that  he  is  wrong.  Facts  and  reasoning,  if  erroneous, 
always  admit  of  refutation :  but,  if  correct,  no  one 
can  refute  them ;  and,  if  erroneous,  to  refute  may 
still  require  some  ability  ;  whereas,  to  abuse  the  per- 
son from  whom  they  have  proceeded  is  within  the 
power  of  every  one,  a  gift  not  denied  to  any  creature 
capable  of  uttering  articulate  sounds  or  of  making 
marks  upon  paper.  The  great  cause,  however,  of 
abuse  in  such  cases,  is  the  'Weight  of  the  truths 
against  which  such  abuse  is  opposed :  for  it  is  here 
as  in  common  verbal  disputes,  he  who  has  the  truth 
clearly  on  his  side,  is  always  seen  to  be  in  good  tem- 
per, while  his  opponent  scarcely  ever  fails  to  disco- 
ver impatience  and  anger,  and,  in  but  too  many 
cases,  to  give  way  to  personal  invective  and  false  ac- 
cusation ;  and,  be  you  well  assured,  Gentlemen,  that 
even  the  venal  men,  above-described,  answer  me  by 
saying  that  I  write  from  a  prison,  only  because 
they  have  no  other  answer  to  give. 

Leaving  them  in  the  full  possession  and  unenvied 
enjoyment  of  all  the  advantage  and  of  all  the  honour 
which  such  a  mode  of  answering  can  give,  let  us 
proceed  witli  our  inquiry  into  the  effects  of  the 
SINKING  FUND,  just  casting  our  eye  back  first, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  81 

and  refreshing  our  memory  as  to  the  foregoing  facts ; 
namely,  that  the  Sinking- Fund  Acts  of  PITT,  which 
provided  for  the  cutting  off  some  part  of  the  interest 
upon  the  Debt  in  1808  ;  that  these  provisions,  which 
led  the  poor  nation  to  hope  for  a  taking  off  of  part  of 
its  taxes  in  1808  ;  that  these  provisions,  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  were  held  forth  to  the  believing  peo- 
ple of  England,  in  the  pamphlet  of  GEORGE  ROSE, 
as  the  sure  and  undoubted  pledge  for  the  taking  off 
of  taxes  in  1808,  or  thereabouts  ;  that  these  provisions, 
in  order  to  begin  to  taste  the  benefit  of  which,  the 
people  were  to  pay  a  million  a  year  of  additional 
taxes  for  twenty-two  years  ;  that  these  provisions, 
yes,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  these  provisions,  after 
the  people  had  gone  on  hoping  for  sixteen  years 
out  of  the  twenty-two  ;  that  these  provisions,  were, 
by  ADDINGTON'S  Act  of  1802,  repealed,  done  away, 
made  of  no  more  effect  than  if  they  never  had  been 
enacted  by  the  Parliament. 

"  Well,"  you  will  say,  "  but  upcn  what  ground 
was  this  measure  adopted  ?  What  end  was  it  pro- 
posed to  answer  ?"  Oh  !  why 'it  was  to  pay  off  the 
Debt,  new  as  well  as  old  ;  for,  by  this  time,  the 
Debt  contracted  since  the  existence  of  the  Sinking 
Fund,  was  become  greater  than  the  one  contracted 
before.  It  was  to  pay  off  the  Debt,  new  as  well  as 
old,  sooner  than  they  would  have  been  paid  off,  if 
this  New  Act  had  not  been  passed.  And  it  was  said, 
in  support  of  the  measure,  that  it  would  be  better  for 
us  (good  God,  what  a  "  thinking"  people  we  are  !) 
not  to  have  any  of  our  taxes  taken  off  in  1808  ;  but 
to  go  on  paying  interest  upon  the  whole  of  the  Debt, 
as  before,  till  our  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  had 
bought  up  the  whole  of  the  Stock,  and  that,  then, 
(Oh,  then  !)  then,  my  boys,  huzza  !  for,  then  we 
should  be  completely  out  of  Debt. 

"  Thinking  people"  of  England,  when  do  you  think 
that  that  then  was  to  arrive  ?  When  do  you  think 
that  it  was  supposed  that  our  Commissioners  would 
have  bought  up  the  whole  of  the  Stock  existing  when 


82  PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD. 

the  new  Act  was  passed  ?  When  do  you  think  that 
the  day,  the  happy  day,  the  new  day  of  promise  was 
to  come  ?  When  do  you  think  we  were,  according 
to  this  Act  for  rendering  the  Sinking  Fund  "  MORE 
EFFECTUAL ;"  when,  aye,  when  do  you  think,  that 
we  were,  according  to  this  improved  plan,  to  begin 
to  feel  the  effects  of  it,  in  the  lessening  of  our  taxes  1 
How  many  years  do  you  think  we  were  to  wait ; 
how  many  years  to  keep  paying  additional  taxes  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  off  the  Debt,  before  we  began  to 
taste  of  any  redemption  of  Taxes  in  consequence  of 
it  ?  Only  FORTY-FIVE  !  Forty-five  years  only 
had  we  to  wait;  and  now  we  have  only  THIRTY- 
NINE  to  wait,  and  to  pay  taxes  all  the  time,  over 
and  above  the  interest  upon  the  Debt ;  only  thirty- 
nine  years  before  we  shall  cease  to  pay  interest  upon 
the  whole  of  the  Debt  existing  in  1802  ;  about  five- 
eighths  of  the  Debt,  now  existing.  We  have  been 
waiting  ever  since  the  year  1786  ;  we  have  been  wait- 
ing for  twenty-four  years ;  we  have  been  pay- 
ing taxes  all  that  time,  over  and  above  the  interest 
of  the  Debt ;  we  have,  for  twenty-four  years,  been 
paying  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  paying  off  the  Debt ; 
and,  now,  at  the  end  of  these  twenty-four  years,  those 
of  us  who  are  alive  have  the  consolation  to  reflect, 
that  we  have  only  thirty-nine  years  more  to  wait 
and  to  pay  these  Sinking- Fund  taxes,  before  we 
shall  begin  to  taste  the  fruit  of  all  this  patience  and 
all  these  sacrifices,  and  that,  at  the  blessed  time  here 
mentioned,  some  of  our  taxes  will  be  taken  off .... 
unless  another  Act  should  be  passed,  between  this 
time  and  that,  for  rendering  the  last  made  Act 
«  MORE  EFFECTUAL." 

Gentlemen,  need  I  say  more  ?  Certainly  it  is  not 
necessary  ;  but,  there  are  still  some  views  to  take 
of  this  matter,  which  having  taken,  we  may  defy  all 
the  world  to  puzzle  us  upon  this  subject  again. 

We  have  seen,  that  we  still  pay  interest  upon 
'he  whole  of  the  Debt ;  we  have  seen,  in  Letter  IV. 
j.  64;  that  since  the  Sinking  Fund  was  established^ 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  83 

the  interest  we  pay  has  increased  from  nine  millions 
and  upwards  to  thirty-two  millions  and  upwards :  and 
we  humbly  think,  at  least  I  do,  that  so  long  as  I  am 
compelled  to  pay  interest  for  a  Debt,  it  is  no  matter 
to  whom,  or  under  what  name,  I  pay  it.  This  is  an 
obvious  truth.  There  is  something  so  consummately 
ridiculous  in  the  idea  of  a  nation's  getting  money  by 
paying  interest  to  itself  upon  its  own  stock,  that  the 
mind  of  every  rational  man  naturally  rejects  it.  It  is, 
really,  something  little  short  of  madness  to  suppose, 
that  a  nation  can  increase  its  wealth  ;  increase  its 
means  of  paying  others  ;  that  it  can  do  this  by  pay- 
ing interest  to  itself.  When  time  is  taken  to  reflect, 
no  rational  man  will  attempt  to  maintain  a  proposition 
so  shockingly  absurd.  I  put  the  thing  in  this  way 
in  an  Article,  published  by  me  in  1804,*  and  I  re- 
quested the  late  Rev.  JOHN  BRAND,  who  had  written 
a  great  deal  upon  the  subject,  to  look  at  the  Article, 
and  to  tell  me  what  sort  of  answer  he  could  find  to 
this  part  of  it.  He  did  so,  and  the  following  was  his 
answer : 

"  I  have  looked  at  your  observations  on  the  Sink- 
ing Fund  ;  and  the  following  is  my  answer  to  your 
great  argument ;  namely,  ( that  the  Debt  said  to  be 
redeemed  is  an  imaginary  discharge,  because  IN- 
TEREST thereon  continues  to  be  paid.'' If  the 

interest  does  continue  to  be  paid,  the  conclusion  is 
just ;  and  this  is  the  fundamental  principle  of  much 

of  what  you  have  said. It  is  reduced,  therefore, 

to  a  question  of  fact,  and  I  should  say  the  interest 
does  not  continue  to  be  paid.  The  same  tax  con- 
tinues to  be  levied,  it  is  paid  also  away,  but  it  is  paid 
for  another  purpose  ;  it  is  yearly  applied  to  the  pay- 
ing off  more  principal ;  no  part  of  it  is  applied  to 

the  payment  of  interest. Take  an  example  in  a 

private  concern :  A.  has  on  his  estate  a  mortgage  of 
£70,000  at  3  per  cent.,  which  he  has  the  liberty  to 
pay  oft*  as  he  pleases.  He  determines  to  diminish 

*  REGISTER,  vol.  v.  page  591. 


84  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

his  expenditure  by  1,OOOZ.  a  year;  at  the  end  of  the 
year  he  pays  the  interest  2,100Z.,  and  part  of  the  prin- 
cipal 1,000/. ;  his  payment  that  year  is  3,100/.,  and 
this  sum  he  continues  to  pay  annually  till  the  debt 
is  annihilated  ;  it  is  now  reduced  to  69,000/. ;  at  the 
end  of  the  second  year  there  will  be  due  for  interest 
2,070£.,  being  30/.  less  than  the  year  before  ;  when, 
therefore,  the  second  payment  of  3,100/.  is  made,  it 
will  consist  of  two  parts,  1,030/.  for  principal,  and 

2,070/.  for  interest. The  interest  of  the  1,000/. 

paid  off  the  first  year  does  not  continue  to  be  paid  in 
the  second,  and  the  30Z.  interest  of  the  part  of  the 
capital  redeemed  or  paid  off  is  now  applied  to  the 

payment  of  more  capital. Such  mortgagor  at  the 

end  of  the  year  has  actually  paid  off  1,000/.,  of  year 
two  2,030Z.,  and  of  year  three  3,060Z.  18*.  And  that 
he  continues  to  pay  annually  the  same  sum  on  ac- 
count of  debt,  that  is,  on  account  of  principal  and  in- 
terest jointly,  does  not  in  the  least  affect  this  con- 
clusion." 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  you  s-ee,  Mr.  BRAND  takes 
up  "  a  new  position"  as  most  combatants  do,  when 
they  are  afraid  to  meet  their  antagonist.  He  is 
obliged  to  say,  that  we  DO  NOT  continue  to  pay 
interest  upon  the  part  of  the  Debt,  which  is  bought 
up,  or,  as  it  is  called,  redeemed.  Aye  !  but  what 
say  the  Acts  of  Parliament  ?  They  say,  that  in- 
terest is  continued  to  be  paid  thereon  :  they  say,  that, 
when  any  Stock,  or  parts  of  the  Debt,  are  bougkt 
up,  or  redeemed,  by  the  Commissioners,  "  the  divi- 
dends thereon  shall  be  received  by  the  said  Com- 
missioners" or  by  the  Bank,  on  their  account.  And, 
what  is  the  language  of  the  Accounts,  laid  before 
Parliament  ?  Why,  in  the  account  of  the  nation's 
Expenditure  of  last  year,  there  is  the  following 
item :  "  INTEREST  on  Debt  of  Great  Britain  RE- 
DEEMED, 4,443,519/."  So  that,  either  the  Acts 
of  Parliament  and  the  Public  Accounts  make  use  of 
misnomers,  or,  I  was  right  in  calling  it  interest. 
Besides,  how  completely  does  this  denial  of  Mr. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  85 

BRAND  dissipate  all  our  fine  dreams  about  the  gains 
of  the  Sinking  Fund  ?  Is  it  not  the  commonly  re- 
ceived notion,  that  we  gain  money  by  this  Fund? 
Are  we  not  continually  told,  by  the  venal  writers  of 
the  day,  about  what  the  Fund  yields  ?  Were  we 
not  told  by  them,  less  than  six  weeks  ago,  that  this 
Fund  had  produced  such  and  such  sums  ?  And, 
what  is  meant  by  a  Fund's  yielding  and  producing, 
if  you  cast  the  notion  of  interest  aside  ?  In  what 
other  way  is  it  to  yield  ?  In  what  other  way  can  it 
produce  an  addition  to  its  amount?  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  adhere  to  this  notion 
of  interest,  without  falling  into  the  gross  absurdity, 
before  mentioned,  of  supposing  that  the  nation  can 
get  money  ;  that  it  can  increase  its  means  of  pay- 
ing others,  by  paying  interest  to  itself,  by  becoming 
the  lender  of  money  to  itself,  by  becoming  its  own 
creditor ;  an  absurdity,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
Mr.  BRAND  dared  not  risk  his  reputation  in  attempt- 
ing to  support. 

We  now  come  to  Mr.  BRAND'S  "  example  in  a  pri- 
vate concern."  And  here,  Gentlemen,  suffer  me 
once  more,  and  in  a  more  pressing  manner  than  be- 
fore, to  solicit  your  attention  ;  because  we  have  now 
before  us  the  ground-work  of  all  the  sad  delusion, 
which  has  so  long  existed,  and  which  does  still  exist, 
upon  this  subject. 

It  is  a  natural  propensity  of  the  mind  of  man,  to 
assimilate  things,  which  he  wishes  to  understand, 
with  things  which  he  does  understand.  Hence  the 
application  of  the  terms  mortgage,  redemption, 
and  others,  to  the  Debt  of  the  Nation.  But,  in 
this  work  of  assimilation,  or  bringing  things  to 
a  resemblance  for  the  purposes  of  illustration, 
we  ought  to  take  the  greatest  care,  not  to  make  use 
of  violence,  not  to  regard  as  alike  things  which  are 
essentially  different  in  their  properties  ;  for,  if 
we  do  this,  error  must  be  the  result,  and  I  think,  you 
will  find,  that  this  has  been  done  by  all  those,  who 
have  reasoned  like  Mr.  BRAND  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
8 


86  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

whole  of  those  writers  and  speakers,  who  have  held 
forth  the  Sinking  Fund  as  likely  to  produce  relief 
to  the  country. 

We  know,  we  daily  see,  that  private  persons  pay 
off  incumbrances  upon  their  estates  ;  and,  we  know 
very  well  and  very  familiarly,  how  fast  the  money  of 
private  persons  increases  by  being'  permitted  to  lie 
at  compound  interest.  This  very  common  portion 
of  knowledge  appears  to  have  been  quite  enough  for 
our  Financiers,  who  had,  therefore,  nothing  to  do 
but  to  look  into  interest  tables^  where  they  would 
not  fail  to  find,  that  a  million  a  year  set  apart,  in 
1786,  would,  at  compound  interest,  pay  off  the  then 
existing  Debt,  in  the  space  of  sixty  years  from  that 
time.  They  ask  no  more.  This  quite  satisfies  them. 
They  have  no  doubts  upon  the  subject;  and,  accord- 
ingly, they  set  apart  the  million  a  year,  that  is  to 
say,  they  make  a  law  for  applying,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  million  a  year  of  taxes,  raised  upon  the  nation,  to 
the  paying  of  the  nation's  Debts.  But,  where  is  the 
real  similarity  between  this  proceeding  and  the  pro- 
ceeding of  the  individual  as  supposed  by  Mr.  Brand, 
Mr.  M'Arthur,  Mr.  Pitt,  and  others  ;  for  they  have 
all  made  use  of  the  same  sort  of  illustration  ?  Where 
is  the  similarity  in  the  cases  ? 

Mr.  BRAND'S  individual,  to  whom,  for  the  sake  of 
clearness,  we  will  give  the  name  of  THRIFTY,  dimin- 
ishes his  expenditure  by  a  thousand  a  year  ;  that  is, 
he,  instead  of  spending  it  upon  beer,  wine,  bread, 
beef,  and  servants,  pays  it  annually  to  GOLDHAIR, 
who  has  the  mortgage  upon  his  estate.  Now,  this 
you  will  clearly  see,  is  to  be  a  thousand  a  year 
SAVED  by  THRIFTY  ;  and,  besides  this,  he  resolves 
to  pay  to  GOLDHAIR,  (who  has  the  mortgage  on  the 
estate,  mind,)  as  much  more  every  year  as  will  make 
each  payment  equal  to  what  he  formerly  paid  on 
account  of  the  interest  of  the  whole  debt.  This  is 
an  odd  sort  of  way  to  do  the  thing,  but  it  is  THRIFTY'S 
humour,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that,  in  time, 
he  will  thus  pay  off  his  mortgage.  But  again,  I  ask. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  87 

what  similarity  there  is  in  the  case  of  THRIFTY  and 
the  case  of  a  NATION  ? 

THRIFTY,  we  are  told,  "determines  to  diminish 
his  expenditure."  Can  a  NATION  do  this  ?  THRIFTY 
knows  to  a  certainty  what  his  income  and  what  his 
expenditure  will  be;  the  former  infixed,  and  over 
the  latter  he  has  complete  control.  Is  this  the  case 
with  a  NATION?  Prudent  THRIFTY  does  not,  and, 
indeed,  the  supposition  will  not  let  him,  contract  a 
debt  with  SILVERLOCKS,  while  he  is  clearing  off 
with  GOLDHAIR.  Is  this  the  case  with  a  NATION  ? 
But  suppose,  for  argument's  sake,  that,  as  to  all  these, 
there  is  a  perfect  similarity ;  still  is  there  a  point  of 
dissimilarity,  which  nothing  can  remove.  THRIFTY, 
we  are  told,  SAVES  a  thousand  pounds  a  year. 
How  does  the  saving  arise  ?  Why,  he  has  less  beer, 
wine,  bread,  beef,  and  servants,  than  he  had  before. 
His  saving,  then,  is  made  from  the  brewer,  the  wine- 
merchant,  the  baker,  the  butcher,  and  the  footmen ; 
or,  rather,  it  is  made  from  the  public  ;  it  is  made 
from  the  nation  ;  it  is  made  from  a  third  party.  But 
where  is  the  NATION  to  find  a  third  party  from 
whom  to  make  its  saving  ? 

But,  what  we  are  now  going  to  view  is  the 
GRAND  FALLACY.  In  this  case  of  THRIFTY,  it 
is  supposed,  that  he  makes  retrenchments  from  use- 
less expenses ;  that  "  he  determines  to  diminish 
his  expenses  by  a  thousand  a  year,"  and  that,  what 
he  WASTED  before,  what  HE  GOT  NOTHING 
BY  THE  USE  OF  BEFORE,  he  now  applies  to 
the  paying  off  of  his  mortgage.  This  is  very  rational, 
and  Very  efficient  it  would  be ;  but,  is  this  the  case 
with  a  NATION  ?  Would  the  money  which  is  collect- 
ed from  the  people  in  taj?es,  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
porting the  Sinking  Fund,  be  wasted,  if  not  collected 
from  them  ?  Would  it  be  squandered  away  by  the 
several  individuals  who  pay  it,  in  the  same  manner 
that  THRIFTY;S  thousand  a  year  is  supposed  to  have 
been  wasted,  before  he  began  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion ?  Would  it,  in  short,  be  of  no  advantage  to 


88  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

them,  if  it  were  not  taken  away  to  be  given  to  the 
Sinking  Fund  ?  Oh,  yes  !  And  it  would  produce  a 
compound  interest,  too,  in  the  hands  of  individuals, 
as  well  as  in  the  hands  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Com- 
missioners. What  has  the  nation  gained,  then,  by 
paying  millions  to  Commissioners,  instead  of  keep- 
ing those  millions  in  their  own  hands ?  SINCE 
THE  YEAR  1786,  THE  NATION  HAS  PAID 
UPWARDS  OF  160  MILLIONS  INTO  THE 
HANDS  OF  THE  SINKING  FUND  COMMIS- 
SIONERS ;  that  is  to  say,  so  much  money  has 
been  collected  from  the  people  in  taxes  for  the  pur- 
pose of  redeeming  Debt;  and,  if  this  sum  had  been 
left  in  the  people's  hands,  would  it  have  been  of  no 
use  to  them  ?  Would  it  not,  at  any  rate,  have  helped 
to  prevent  the  Debt,  since  that  time,  from  being 
AUGMENTED  IN  THE  SUM  OF  600  MIL- 
LIONS. 

Let  us  give  the  thing  one  more  turn,  and  then,  ic 
is,  I  think,  hard,  if  we  may  not  safely  quit  it  for 
ever. 

THRIFTY  is  supposed  to  take  his  thousand  a  year 
out  of  what  he  before  wasted  ;  out  of  his  superflui- 
ties. But  does  our  Sinking  Fund  money  ;  do  the  tax- 
es that  we  pay  towards  the  Sinking  Fund,  come  out 
of  our  superfluities?  And,  why  suppose  that  THRIFTY 
wasted  any  money  before  ?  Why  suppose  that  he 
had  any  money  to  waste?  Is  THRIFTY 's  being  in 
debt,  and  having  his  estate  encumbered  •  are  these 
reasons  sufficient  for  concluding,  that  he  had  it  in 
his  power  to  "determine  to  diminishhis  expenses?" 
Are  they  not  rather  reasons  sufficient  for  concluding, 
that  he  was  in  circumstances  of  distress  ?  Yes  ;  and 
if,  when  we  have  come  to  that  rational  conclusion, 
we  suppose  him  persuaded  to  believe,  that  he  will 
get  out  of  debt  by  borrowing  from  SILVERLOCKS  all 
the  money  that  he  pays  off  with  GOLDHAIR,  and 
loading  his  estate  with  a  new  mortgage,  with  the 
addition  of  the  cost  of  bonds  and  fees,  then  we 
shall  have  before  our  eyes  "  an  example  in  a  private 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  89 

concern,"  pretty  well  calculated  to  illustrate  the  cele- 
brated scheme,  which  we  have  now  been  discussing1, 
and  of  which  I  now  flatter  myself  that  a  single  word 
more  need  never  be  uttered  to  any  man  of  only 
common  sense. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  20th  Sept.  1810. 

P.  S. — FRIDAY,  21st  SEPT. — I  have  just  seen,  m 
the  public  prints,  a  report  of  a  speech,  said  to  have 
been  delivered  yesterday  at  the  Bank  Company's 
House,  in  Threadneedle-street,  by  Mr.  RANDALL  JACK- 
SON. I  shall  not,  as  I  said  before,  suffer  any  publi- 
cations of  the  day  to  interrupt  the  course  of  my  dis- 
cussion. In  my  next  LETTER,  which  will  open  the 
way  to  that  memorable  transaction,  the  Stoppage  of 
Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, I  shall,  in  all  likelihood,  have  occasion  to  no- 
tice Mr.  JACKSON'S  speech,  not  so  much  on  its  own 
account,  as  because  it  appears  to  have  been  highly  ap- 
plauded by  the  people  at  the  head  of  the  Bank  Com- 
pany, for  whom,  perhaps,  Mr.  JACKSON,  who,  it  seems 
is  a  lawyer,  made  it  in  the  way  of  his  profession. 
One  word,  however,  I  must  beg  leave  to  add  upon  the 
part  of  this  Gentleman's  speech,  in  which,  as  the  re- 
porter says,  he  alluded  to  me,  as  one  who  had  exulted 
at  the  appearance  of  the  Bullion  Report,  because  that 
report,  coming  from  such  high  authority,  had  put  the 
stamp  of  correctness  on  my  opinions.  Never  did 
I  say  this  ;  never  did  I  think  this.  Never  did  I  look 
upon  the  Bullion  Committee  as  a  high  authority ; 
and,  meanly  indeed  should  I  think  of  myself,  if  I 
thought  any  thing,  that  they  could  say  or  do,  capable 
of  adding  the  smallest  weight  to  my  opinions.  No  : 
what  I  exulted  at  was,  that  my  principles  and 
doctrines,  as  to  paper- money,  had,  at  last,  produced 
practical  effect,  a  proof  of  which  was  contained  in 
8* 


90  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  Bullion  Report ;  and  that,  it  was  now  more 
likely  than  before,  that  such  measures  would,  in 
time,  be  adopted,  as  would  be  likely  to  secure  the 
country  from  the  natural  consequences  of  that  over- 
whelming CORRUPTION,  and  that  want  of  love 
for  the  real  Constitution,  which  I  regard  as  the  fruit 
of  the  Paper-money  System,  and  which,  years  ago, 
I  proved,  as  I  think,  to  have  proceeded,  in  great  part, 
from  that  poisonous  and  all-degrading  root.  This 
was  the  cause  of  my  exultation.  I  looked  upon  the 
Bullion  Report  as  tending  to  this  great  object ;  and, 
as  I  prefer  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  as  I 
look  upon  ihe  happiness  and  honour  of  my  country 
as  of  far  «^:vairr  value  tome  than  any  other  worldly 
possession,  I  said,  and  1  still  say,  that  the  Bullion 
Keport  has  given  me  more  pleasure  than  I  should 
derive  from  being  made  the  owner  of  the  whole  of 
Hampshire.  As  for  any  idea  of  a  party  nature,  I 
shall,  I  am  sure,  be  believed  when  I  say,  that  1  did 
not  care  one  straw  to  what  party  the  Committee  be- 
longed. If  I  had  a  wish  as  to  party  it  certainly 
would  be,  that  no  change  of  ministry  should  take 
place;  for,  (without  prejudice  to  the  OUTS,  who, 
1  think,  would  do  the  thing  full  as  well  with  a  little 
more  time,)  I  am  <juite  satisfied,  that  the  present 
men  will  do  it  as  neatly  and  as  quickly  as<  any  rea- 
sonable man  can  expect. 


PAI'KIl  AOAIN8T  GOLD.  01 


LKTTER  VII. 


"RKAL    MONIW    ran    hardly    <-v<:r   multiply    I".,    mii'-h    in  nny    n.in.l.y. 

buciuine  H  will  tilwayf.  01  ITHH-M-IMI-H,  in; tlw certain ti&n  <>/ '//"•  ///<-•/ >•«•.-<• 
of  TRADE,  ofwlnrh  it.  1.4  tin-  iii--;i  iure,  .m<!  <•,,!,...  -iH'Miily  -.1  ili«-  noundnuM 

nnil  vi;;.)u,  oflli'-    wlniln  U'l  y.      I'.nl   l!  i    )\i;V  mny,  :iml  ilo.-n 

WllllDill.    flliy   Ilirn-.-i    ••    .,1     Tr.-uli:   .    liny,    olli-ll    v.'lini    Tl.uli-  ,-n-fil|y 

iii-r.lin.-i,  rot;  rr  is  NOT  Tin:  MI;  A  si  in  i;  OF  TIM;  TK  ADI;  oi-1  rr.  \ 
NATION,  HUT  OK  THE  N  I,'  :i-;.-..-,lTY  OF  MS  (JOVKKNMKNT  ;  MIH! 

1 1  i  .  :il>   i  r  (I    inn!    mil  il  In'  i  H  i  n  a  in,  licit,   tin-  s;mn:  rniHC  wliu'li    nn  I  ur.i  II  / 
lh<-  wr.althnfn  Nntioii.  Hlioill'l  lil.i-wir.i:  l»c   MH-.  (inly  jnnduCliva 

cause  <if  money."— UUJlk  K. 


Review  "f  flic  ( Jr^uinl  over  wliirh  we  lin  vr  pn:; ,;r d  in  i!i«-  forr,-- 
•  l.i-i.i/-rs  OJH-IIIII;;  iln:  w;«y  info  rhc  IIiMory  of  tlur 
r>;uik':t  Sli>|ip;i;v:  in  l/iy  Va^uc  !\olioii  ;i!)nnt  tin-  h 
(•I  r,:inl:  i\otcs  licni:'  :i  I'-'ti  <>\  :ui  I  IMT<  -i;J,c  of  TiJi'lc.  nii'i 
Wcallli,  ;iiul  Prosperity;  'rhii  Notion  <-,x;iiiiiin-<l  Mi.  K.;in- 
rlall  Jackson's  &p  'iiin;-  ;i";nn.,l.  llioxc  who  liav; 

reCOimnended  that.  In:  ami  IMM  I'arlm-i.i  :,h;.ll  In:  comprlli d  to 
I'ay  ihcif  I'loini  ,  01  •/  i\oli  s  in  two  Yrai:«  lh:i  iNolion  t!i;:t 
an  lnrir-;i:c  i>\  |',-ink  NoM-i  naluially  an;,i:-i  Itoin  ;m  In- 
c.r«:asc  o|  'I'ca'l'-  \l»u c  hf-api-d  upon  those  who  wi:.h  lh<: 


I'.ank  lo  pay    it:;    Nulrn      Such     I'et  :-.ons  ealh-.j  |{  ill,  CH,  mid 

•oy  lli»j  Credit  of  Old    iMi-land 
A  n  I  ncrease  of  l'i'-.  .te-;  i.«;  a   I'ro'.l'ol    an   In 


ol  I). ,ni.     l-'ive  Way  1  in  which  I',ank   A'oie.t  -el  oiil  into  cir- 
culation     Absurdity  of  'hat.   an    Jncn-a.eol    I'fo 
tin  'i       to  pay    '  re  a  Si-li    ol'    an    increase    of"    the    ,\l< 
J'ayinx     N.    I'..    An    Account,  of  the  I  )r,n  ,  •••  Irorrj 
tho  I''ailure  of  llir;  llankn  at  Salinhury  and  ,Shaite:,hui  y. 

i  U:MI:N, 

I-,-  i.l  e  fore^oin^  L«-n«-r,  w:  closed 
relative    lo    the    Hi.n/rin';    l''iuul,  •    ;ind    that    biou'^ht 

us  to  a  point,  to  a  sort  of  stage.  OJ 
our  vv;iy,  I'rain  vvlii«-h  jxjint  it  will  he  ;idv;mt;it;eou^ 
for  us  lo  fake  ;L  brirl'  r»-vi<-vv  ol'  the  ground  over 
wlii'-J)  we;  l»:tve  pus.sed  ;  for,  \vlidi  tin-  <!«-xi';n  of  (he 
writer  is  to  serve  the  c.:ui:;e  of  //•/////.,  and  <•  .[H-einlly 
when  !.!n-  truth',  he.  wi:- Jiev.  lo  »n:ike  ;ij»|);in-nl,  have 
h'-en  Indoftriously  env'-lopcd  iti  d;nkn«-ss;  in  such  a 
Case,  every  other  (juality  in  wiiliri",  <>\:-\\il  to  yi«-ld  to 
that  of  rl.  a r ness. 


92  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

It  was  stated,  at  the  outset  of  our  inquiries,  that  the 
chief  object  of  them  was,  to  ascertain,  or,  at  least, 
to  enable  ourselves  to  form  a  decided  opinion, 
"  whether  it  be  possible,  without  a  total  destruc- 
tion of  all  the  paper-money ',  to  restore  Gold  and 
Silver  to  circulation  amongst  us"  In  pursuit  of 
this  object,  it  became  necessary  for  us  to  make  some 
preliminary  inquiries  as  to  the  cause  of  the  Gold  and 
Silver  having  gone  out  of  circulation. 

The  cause,  the  immediate  cause,  that  is  to  say, 
the  cause  which  came  close  before  the  effect,  was  the 
increase  of  the  paper-money.  This  cause  was  evi- 
dent to  every  one  ;  but,  then,  it  became  us  to  inquire 
what  had  been  the  cause  of  that  increase  ;  other- 
wise our  inquiries  would  have  been  as  useless  as 
would  be  those  of  a  farmer,  who,  upon  finding  a 
score  of  his  sheep  dead,  should  content  himself  with 
ascertaining  that  they  had  been  killed  with  a  knife, 
without  making  any  inquiry  as  to  the  person  by 
whom  the  destructive  instrument  had  been  used. 
Common  sense,  therefore,  dictated  to  us  to  inquire 
into  the  cause,  or  causes,  of  the  increase  of  the 
paper-money ;  and,  in  order  to  come  at  a  clear 
understanding  with  respect  to  these  causes,  we  were 
obliged  to  go  back  to  the  inauspicious  origin  of  the 
paper-money  system,  that  fatal  system,  whence 
arose  the  National  Debt,  that  Debt  which  even  PITT 
himself,  the  great  abettor  of  the  system,  called  "  the 
best  ally  of  France." 

During  this  retrospect,  we  have  seen,  that  the 
Bank  of  England  is  merely  a  company  of  traders, 
whose  charter  arose  out  of  a  loan  which  they  made 
to  the  Government,  and  that,  at  its  institution,  it 
never  entered  into  the  mind  of  man,  that  these  tra- 
ders were  ever  to  be  protected  by  law  from  paying,  in 
the  king's  coin,  their  promissory  notes,  as  they  have 
been  from  February,  1797,  to  the  present  day.  We 
have  seen,  in  proceeding  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of 
this  nonpayment  or  stoppage,  on  the  part  of  the 
Bank;  in  1797,  that  the  bank  notes  have  gone  on  in- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  93 

creasing  in  quantity,  and  that  these  notes,  of  which, 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  there  were  none  under 
20  pounds,  appeared,  in  the  war  of  1755.  in  the  shape 
of  15  pounds  and  10  pounds  ;  and,  during  PITT'S  war 
against  the  French  revolution,  which  war  he  carried 
on,  in  part  at  least,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  de- 
stroying the  finances  of  France,  we  have  seen  that 
they  appeared  in  the  shape,  first,  of  5  pounds,  and, 
at  last,  in  the  shape  of  2  pounds  and  I  pound.  We 
have,  in  order  the  better  to  understand  the  history  of 
the  Bank  Stoppage,  in  1797,  and  the  better  to  esti- 
mate its  consequences,  taken  a  view  of  the  Funds, 
and  Stocks,  and  National  Debt ;  we  have  seen  how 
they  arose  ;  we  have  described  their  nature  ;  we 
have  traced  them  in  their  dreadful  progress  ;  we  have 
seen  how  the  National  Debt  has  gone  on  increasing 
from  the  reign  of  William  the  Third  to  the  present 
day ;  we  have  seen  how  exactly  the  increase  of  the 
National  Expenditure,  and  the  Taxes,  and  the  Poor- 
Rates,  have  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  Debt ; 
and,  in  the  three  last  Letters,  we  have  seen  an  ample 
development,  a  clear  exposure,  of  the  schemes  for 
"redeeming,"  or  "paying  off,"  that  Debt,  and  we 
have  seen,  that  during  the  operation  of  those  schemes 
of  redemption,  the  Debt  has  gone  OD?  increasing,  and, 
that  the  interest  we  pay  upon  the  Debt,  has,  since  the 
Grand  Scheme  of  PITT  has  been  in  force,  been  aug- 
mented from  9  millions  a  year  to  32  millions  a  year. 

This  is  what  we  have  seen  and  what  we  have 
done.  And  having  now,  to  use  the  sportsman's  lan- 
guage, made  good  our  ground,  we  may  begin  to  move 
forwards  towards  the  interesting  history  of  the  stop- 
page of  gold  and  silver  payments  at  the  Bank  of 
England,  in  1797. 

Our  first  step,  in  opening  the  way  into  this  history, 
must  be  to  obtain  a  clear  notion  with  regard  to  the 
manner  in  which  bank  notes  are  issued,  or  put  out 
into  circulation  among  the  people  ;  or,  rather,  with 
regard  to  the  immediate  causes  of  putting  them  out. 
For,  unless  we  have  a  clear  understanding  upon  this 


94  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

point,  we  shall  have  hut  a  confused  idea  of  the  more 
distant  causes  of  their  increase. 

There  is,  apparently,  a  vague,  or  indistinct  notion, 
floating  in  the  minds  of  some  men,  that  the  increase 
of  the  bank  notes  is  an  indication,  or  sign,  of  an  in- 
crease of  TRADE,  of  WEALTH,  and  of  PROSPERITY, 
which,  as  you  must  have  perceived,  are,  by  such 
persons,  always  jumbled  and  confounded  together, 
for  want  of  proper  attention  to  the  facts  and  princi- 
ples, which  we  have  stated  and  laid  uown  in  Letter 
III.,  from  page  40  to  page  54.  But,  we  must  not 
suffer  ourselves  to  fall  into  this  confusion ;  and,  in- 
deed, does  not  common  sense  reject  the  notion,  that 
an  increase  of  promissory  notes,  which  necessarily 
argues  the  want  of  the  means  of  the  person  issuing 
them,  to  pay  in  specie ;  does  not  common  sense,  does 
not  the  plain  understanding  of  every  plain  man  re- 
ject, with  scorn,  the  notion,  that  such  an  increase  is 
a  sign  of  increasing  wealth  and  prosperity  in  the 
person,  or  body,  or  community,  by  whom  the  issue  is 
made  ?  Why  does  our  neighbour  NEEDY  give  a 
note  ol  hand  in  payment  of  his  rent  or  of  his  tailor's 
bill  ?  Why,  because  he  has  not  the  money  in  his 
pocket  or  his  drawer.  And,  are  we  to  be  made  to 
believe,  that  the  circumstance  of  his  not  having 
money  to  pay  what  he  owes  is  a  proof  of  his 
wealth  and  prosperity  ?  We  have  been  persuaded 
to  believe  many  things  ;  but,  I  think,  that,  at  this 
day,  we  shall  not  be  persuaded  to  believe  this.  At 
the  time  of  the  numerous  bankruptcies,  in  1793, 
just  after  PITT'S  war  broke  out,  PITT  asserted,  that 
they  were  a  sign  of  national  prosperity,  and  was  al- 
most huzzaed  for  the  assertion ;  but,  we  have  had  time 
now  to  experience,  time  to  feel,  the  worth  of  PITT'S 
assertions,  predictions,  plans,  and  measures ;  and, 
with  the  benefit  of  this  lesson,  we  shall  not,  now,  be 
so  easily  persuaded,  that  bankruptcy  is  a  sign  of 
prosperity ;  though,  it  must,  I  think,  be  allowed,  that 
it  is  full  as  true  a  sign  of  prosperity  as  that  which 
has  now  been  discovered  in  the  increase  ofpromis- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  95 

xorj/  notes,  which  increase  is,  and  must  be,  always 
an  infallible  sign  of  a  want,  in  a  greater  or  a  less  de- 
gree, of  the  means  to  make  payment  in  money. 

As  to  the  increase  of  Trade,  that,  indeed,  will 
demand,  as  we  shall  hereafter  more  fully  see,  a  cer- 
lain  increase  of  circulating  medium,  or  money,  as 
must  be  evident  to  every  man,  who  reflects,  but  for 
one  moment,  upon  the  subject ;  because,  where  there 
are  ten  purchases  of  a  pound  each  to  be  made,  (sup- 
posing them  to  be  made  in  the  same  space  of  time,) 
twice  as  much  money  will  be  wanted  as  where  there 
are  only  five  purchases  of  a  pound  each  to  be  made. 
But,  the  increase  of  trade,  that  is  to  say,  the  increase 
of  purchases  and  sales,  or,  in  other  words,  the  in- 
crease of  MONEY'S-WORTH  things,  though  it 
is  a  very  solid  reason  for  the  increase  of  money,  is 
no  reason  at  all  for  the  increase  of  promissory  notes, 
and,  especially,  of  promissory  notes  which  will  not 
bring  money  in  exchange  for  them.  The  man, 
who  is  in  a  great  way  of  trade,  gives  more  promis- 
sory notes  than  a  man  in  a  small  way  ;  but  he  has 
proportionate  means,  and,  at  any  rate,  does  not  give 
notes  without  possessing  the  value  of  them  in  goods, 
or  property  of  some  kind,  in  moneys-worth  things  ; 
and,  of  course,  his  notes  are  convertible  into  money  ; 
but  is  this  the  case  with  the  notes  of  the  Bank  ?  Is 
this  the  case  with  the  notes  of  any  of  our  Banks  ? 
Such  a  man  stands  in  need  of  no  law  to  protect  him 
against  the  demands  of  the  holder  of  his  notes ;  but 
there  is  a  law  to  protect  the  Bank  of  England  against 
the  demand  of  any  holder  of  its  notes,  who  may  wish 
to  have  guineas  in  exchange  for  those  notes.  And, 
can  the  increase  of  such  notes  be  regarded  as  a  sign 
of  the  increase  of  trade  ? 

Yet  this  is  a  favourite  fallacy  with  those,  who 
either  do  not  understand  the  matter,  or  who,  while 
they  do  understand  it,  wish  to  deceive  the  world, 
and  the  people  of  this  country  in  particular.  This 
same  fallacy  was  put  forth  with  great  assurance,  at 
the  House  of  the  Bank,  in  Threadneedle-Street, 


96  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

London,  no  longer  ago  than  last  Friday,  by  the  Gen- 
tleman, a  Mr.  RANDALL  JACKSON,  mentioned  in  the 
Postscript  to  the  last  Letter,  page  89,  90,  in  a  speech, 
the  whole  of  which  (together  with  the  speeches  of  the 
GOVERNOR  OF  THE  BANK  and  of  a  Mr.  PAYN,  a  coun- 
try Banker)  as  reported  in  the  Morning  Chronicle 
of  Saturday  last,  will  he  found  in  the  APPENDIX,  A., 
and  which  I  beg  leave  to  recommend  to  your  atten- 
tive perusal. 

Mr.  JACKSON,  who  is,  it  would  seem,  a  proprietor 
of  Bank  Stock  ;  that  is  to  say,  one  of  the  Bank  Com- 
pany, that  is  to  say,  one  of  the  persons  in  whose 
names  the  bank  notes  are  issued  ;  that  is  to  say,  one 
of  the  persons  who  put  forth  the  promissory  notes  of 
the  Bank ;  that  is  to  say,  one  of  the  persons  who  de- 
rive a  profit,  who  get  rich,  from  the  putting  out  of 
those  notes  ;  Mr.  JACKSON  most  loudly  inveighs 
against  the  Bullion  Committee,  and,  indeed,  pretty 
roundly  abuses  them ;  pretty  roundly  abuses  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons,  for  having  recom- 
mended to  the  House  to  pass  a  law  to  oblige  him 
and  his  partners  to  pay  their  notes  agreeably  to 
promise  ;  and  this  he  does,  you  will  observe,  at  the 
very  time  that  he  is  railing  against  the  revolutionists 
of  France,  for  their  levelling  principles^  and,  insi- 
nuating, that  there  are  such  levellers  now  at  work  in 
England  ;  all  which  may  be  very  natural  in  Mr.  JACK- 
SON ;  for,  who  that  is  protected  by  law  from  the  pay- 
ment of  his  promissory  notes,  would  wish  that  law  to 
be  repealed,  and  its  place  supplied  by  a  law  to  compel 
him  to  pay  ?  It  may  be  very  natural  for  a  gentle- 
man, so  situated,  to  abuse  the  Committee;  but,  it 
would  be  very  foolish  in  the  people ;  very  foolish  in 
the  holders  of  his  notes  ;  very  foolish  in  his  creditors 
to  join  in  such  abuse.  Upon  this  part  of  his  speech, 
however,  we  shall  find  a  more  suitable  place  for  ex- 
tending our  remarks,  and  also  for  noticing  what  he  said 
about  the  vast  increase  of  the  Country  Banks,  without 
seeming  to  perceive,  that  that  increase  has  been  owing 
solely  to  the  law  which  protected,  and  still  protects, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  97 

the  Bank  of  England  against  the  Gold  and  Silver 
demands  of  its  creditors.  Upon  these  parts  of  his 
speech,  and  upon  his  assertions  respecting  a  debt 
said  to  be  due  to  the  Bank  from  the  public  ;  upon 
his  statement  of  the  causes  of  the  Bank  stoppage  ; 
upon  the  wonderful  unanimity  of  all  the  speakers 
at  this  Meeting  of  the  partners  of  the  Bank  Com- 
pany, in  declaring,  that  there  would  be  NO  GOOD 
in  their  paying  off  their  promissory  notes  in  Gold 
and  Silver  ;  upon  all  these  topics,  and  upon  some 
others,  brought  forward  at  the  Bank  Company's 
Meeting,  we  shall  find,  hereafter,  a  more  suitable  op- 
portunity for  making  and  apply  ing  our  remarks,  which, 
indeed,  belong  to  other  parts  of  our  subject,  and,  there- 
fore, we  will,  at  present,  confine  ourselves  to  the  only 
topic  introduced  into  these  speeches,  which  belongs 
to  the  part  of  our  subject  now  immediately  before  us  ; 
namely,  the  notion,  that  the  increase  of  bank  notes 
naturally  arises  from  an  increase  of  trade. 

Since,  however,  I  have  digressed  so  far,  I  take 
the  liberty  to  continue  on  a  little  further  for  the 
purpose  of  noticing  a  paragraph,  in  a  newspaper 
of  this  very  morning,  (Monday.  24th  September,) 
which  imitates  Mr.  JACKSON  in  abusing  those,  who 
are  desirous  of  seeing  the  Bank  Company  once  more 
pay  their  promissory  notes  in  Gold  and  Silver. 
"  We  are  happy,"  says  this  writer,  "  to  find,  that  the 
opinion  we  have  more  than  once  expressed  upon  the 
subject  is  sanctioned  by  the  first  authorities  in  the 
Country,  and  that  the  mischievous  idea  of  throwing 
open  the  Bank  immediately  to  be  rijled  by  the  en- 
grossers and  exporters  of  guineas,  is  universally 
reprobated.  Sir  John  Sinclair  has  taken  up  the  pen 
upon  the  subject,  and  most  ably  does  he  treat  it. 
Neither  the  authority  of  the  Committee,  nor  the  cla- 
mours of  those  who  wish  to  destroy  the  public  cre- 
dtt  of  Old  England,  have  been  sufficient  to  intimi- 
date that  highly  informed  and  much  respected  Gen- 
tleman from  coining  forward  to  vindicate  truth  and 
dispel  a  most  mischievous  delusion"  What,  Gen- 
9 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

tlemen  !  is  a  recommendation  to  pass  a  law  to  oblige 
the  Bank  Company  to  begin  to  pay  its  promissory 
notes  in  gold  and  silver,  at  the  end  of  two  years  ; 
is  this  to  be  called  "  throwing"  open"  the  Bank  to  be 
"  rifled  ?"  Are  you  and  all  of  us,  who  hold  bank  notes, 
to  be  denominated  "  rijlers,"  or  robbers,  because  we 
may  wish  to  be  paid  the  amount  of  those  notes  in  gold 
and  silver  ?  Is  a  desire  to  see  the  Bank  pay  its  pro- 
missory notes  upon  demand,  agreeably  to  the  words 
written  in  them,  and  to  see  the  king's  coin  once  more 
come  back  into  circulation  amongst  us  ;  is  this  desire 
to  be  attributed  to  a  "  wish  to  destroy  the  public  cre- 
dit of  Old  England?"  Gentlemen,  this  language 
shows  two  things :  first,  that  those  who  use  it  enter- 
tain a  most  hearty  contempt  for  the  people  of  Eng- 
land ;  and,  second,  that  their  cause  is  so  very  bad, 
that  they  dare  not  even  attempt  to  offer  in  support  of 
it  any  thing  bearing  the  shape  of  an  argument. 

Leaving  the  Bank  Company  to  the  support  of  these 
railers,  let  us  now,  with  the  calmness  and  candour 
which  belong  to  the  cause  of  truth,  return  to  our 
inquiry,  whether  the  increase  of  the  bank  notes  has 
arisen  from  an  increase  of  trade,  and  if  not,  what 
has  been  the  real  cause,  or  causes,  of  that  increase 
of  bank  notes  which  has  driven  the  gold  and  silver 
out  of  circulation. 

We  have  seen,  that  a  real  increase  of  trade  means, 
an  increase  in  purchases  and  sales,  or,  in  other 
words,  an  increase  in  commodities,  or  things,  which 
are  really  worth  money.  Consequently,  an  increase 
of  trade  will  naturally  demand  an  increase  of  money ; 
but,  what  it  demands  is  an  increase  of  real  money, 
seeing  that  the  increase  of  the  trade  itself  is  no  other 
than  an  increase  of  money's-worth  things  ;  and,  that 
the  increase  of  its  demand  will  not  be  for  paper, 
or  for  notes  not  convertible  into  money.  Precisely 
the  contrary  ;  and,  in  private  concerns,  we  every  day 
see,  that  it  is  the  falling  o^of  a  man's  real  trade, 
it  is  the  lessening  of  his  quantity  of  money's-wortli 
things,  that  induces  him  to  have  recourse  to  the  is- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  99 

sue  of  paper,  paper  which  he  cannot  turn  into  money. 
In  a  word,  it  is  DEBT  that  makes  a  man  give  pro- 
missory notes.  An  increase  of  trade,  always  imply- 
ing an  increase  of  money's-worth  things,  brings,  of 
itself,  an  increase  of  real  money,  unless  that  money 
be,  by  some  unnatural  cause,  withheld  from  circula- 
tion. It  is  just  the  same  with  a  nation,  whose  in- 
crease of  money's-worth  things  will  bring  to  it  an 
exactly  proportionate  increase  of  real  money,  if  that 
money  be  not  kept  back,  or  driven  out  again,  by  some 
unnatural  cause  ;  but,  DEBT,  and  the  attendants 
upon  debt,  lead  to  the  issuing  of  bank-notes,  or,  to 
paper  of  some  sort  or  other,  or,  to  a  something,  no 
matter  what  it  be,  which  has  not  a  real  value  in  itself. 
Real  money  is  the  representative  of  MONEY'S 
WORTH  THINGS;  promissory  notes  are  the  re- 
presentatives  of  DEBT ;  and,  this  we  shall  clearly 
see,  as  we  proceed  in  examining  into  the  way,  or 
rather  the  divers  ways,  in  which  bank  notes  get  out 
into  circulation  amongst  the  people. 

The  bank  notes  have  in  them  nothing  of  a  mys- 
tical nature.  They  are  the  joint  work  of  a  paper- 
maker,  an  engraver,  a  printer,  and  the  person  who 
puts  his  name,  in  writing,  at  the  bottom  of  them. 
Being  thus  brought  to  perfection,  they  are  delivered 
at  the  Bank  Company's  House,  or  Shop,  FIKST,  to 
any  persons,  to  whom  the  Company  may  owe  money, 
for  work  done  to  their  buildings,  or  to  others  for 
keeping  their  books,  or  for  paper,  or  for  printing,  or, 
in  short,  for  any  services  performed  for  them.  A 
SECOND  way,  in  which  the  notes  get  out,  is  through 
what  is  called  discounting  ;  that  is  to  say,  loans  of 
bank  notes  made  to  private  persons,  for  which  the 
borrower  leaves  in  possession  of  the  Company  a  note 
of  hand  or  bill  of  exchange,  that  is  to  say,  an  en- 
gagement to  pay  back  again  as  much  as  he  receives, 
together  with  interest  for  the  time  ;  or,  rather,  the 
interest  is  deducted  when  the  loan  is  made.  A 
THIRD  way,  in  which  the  notes  get  out,  is  through 
the  advances,  or  loans,  which  the  Bank  makes  to  the 


100  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Government,  by  way  of  anticipation  upon  the  taxes, 
before  they  come  in.  A  FOURTH  way  is  through  the 
payment  of  the  interest  of  Exchequer  Bills,  or  Navy 
Bills,  which  are  a  sort  of  promissory  notes,  given  by 
the  Government,  and  upon  which  the  Bank  some- 
times pays  the  interest,  and,  at  other  times,  discounts 
them,  or  purchases  them  of  the  holders  at  the  cur- 
rent price ;  but,  in  every  case,  a  fresh  parcel  of  bank 
notes  gets,  through  the  means  of  these  bills,  into  cir- 
culation. A  FIFTH  way,  in  which  the  notes  get  out, 
is  through  the  payment  of  the  dividends,  or  the  in- 
terest of  the  Stock,  or  National  Debt,  which  divi- 
dends are  paid  quarterly ;  and,  as  we  have  before 
seen,  the  amount  is  three  times  as  great  as  it  was  at 
the  beginning  of  PITT'S  war  against  the  Jacobins  of 
France,  which  we  have  called  the  ANTI-JACOBIN  war. 
Now,  without  enumerating  any  more  of  the  ways 
in  which  bank  notes  get  into  circulation,  is  it  not  as 
clear  as  the  sun  at  noon-day,  that  they  are  always 
the  representatives  q/DEBT  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that 
no  one  can  deny,  that  the  increase  of  them  proceeds 
from  the  increase  of  Debt,  and  not  from  the  in- 
crease of  trade?  Away,  then,  with  the  nonsense 
of  those  dreamers,  who  would  persuade  us  that  an 
issue  of  promissory  notes  proceeds  from  an  increase 
of  moneys-worth  things  !  Away  with  the  idle  talk 
about  an  increase  of  things  of  real  value  calling  for 
an  increase  of  paper  promises  !  Away,  away  with 
the  confused,  the  childish  notion,  that  an  increase 
of  the  means  of  paying,  produces  an  increase  of 
promises  to  pay  !  As  well  might  any  one  tell  you, 
that  the  increase  of  the  paper  of  the  Salisbury*  and 

*  The  scenes  at  SALISBURY,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  the 
Banks  at  that  city  and  at  Shaftesbury.  have  been  truly  dis- 
tressing. At  Salisbury,  in  particular,  where  the  greatest  part 
of  the  sufferers  live,  the  poor  people  were,  in  many  cases, 
without  victuals  or  drink  for  some  time,  and  many  persons,  in 
a  respectable  way  of  life,  were,  for  many  days  together, 
obliged  to  sit  down  to  dine  upon  little  more  than  bread,  no 
meat  being  to  be  purchased  with  the  only  sort  of  money  (if  a 
debased  paper  ought,  for  a  moment,  to  go  by  that  name)  which 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  101 

Shaftesbury  banks  arose  from  the  increase  of  the 
means  of  paying  their  debts,  an  assertion,  which, 

was,  generally  speaking,  in  possession  of  the  people.  Many 
persons,  in  the  lower  ranks  of  life,  who  had  gathered  together 
a  few  pounds,  the  fruit  of  long  labour  and  anxious  care,  of 
frugality,  and  of  forbearance  frorn  enjoyment;  the  fruit,  in 
short,  of  an  exercise  of  all  the  domestic  virtues,  and  destined 
to  be  the  provision,  as  the  saying  is,  "against  a  rainy  day," 
that  is,  to  be  the  source  of  comfort  in  sickness  or  in  old  age; 
many  persons  of  this  description,  the  heart-ache  of  one  of 
whom  ought  to  give  us  more  pain  than  to  see  fifty  thousand 
Public  Robbers  swinging  from  so  many  gibbets  ;  many  per- 
sons of  this  description  ;  many  of  these  very  best  of  the  peo- 
ple, saw  their  little  all  vanish  in  a  moment,  and  themselves 
reduced  to  the  same  state  with  the  improvident,  the  careless, 
the  lazy,  the  spendthrift,  the  drunkard,  and  the  glutton,  look- 
ing back  upon  a  life  of  labour  and  of  care,  and  looldng  f9rward 
to  the  misery  and  disgrace  of  a  workhouse  !  To  describe  the 
scene,  when  the  Meetings  of  Creditors  took  place,  at  Salis- 
bury, would  be  impossible.  The  Council  Chamber  of  the  city 
(for  no  other  place,  except  the  Cathedral,  would  have  con- 
tained a  twentieth  part  of  them)  was  surrounded  with  such 
multitudes,  and  so  eager  were  they,  in  pressing  forward,  that 
some  were  in  danger  of  their  lives  ;  and  the  constables,  from 
necessity,  perhaps,  laid  their  staves  about  the  heads  of  many 
of  those  who  came  to  demand  their  due,  particularly,  as  1  arn 
informed,  on  the  7th  of  this  month.  What  a  scene  was  this  ! 
Here,  PITT,  if  he  had  still  been  alive,  might  have  seen  a  speci- 
men of  the  fruits  of  his  system  !  The  holders  of  the  notes 
were,  I  understand,  each  of  them  compelled  to  be  at  the  ex- 
ense of  an  affidavit,  and  obliged,  also,  to  attend  in  person,  or 
y  an  attorney,  at  the  Meeting  of  Creditors,  and  also  for  the 
receipt  of  the  dividends  whenever  any  shall  take  place.  It  is 
easy,  therefore,  to  conceive  what  portion  of  payment  will  ever 
fall  to  the  lot  of  hundreds  of  poor  men  and  women,  living  at 
a  distance  from  Salisbury,  and  scattered  about  in  country 
places,  where  a  newspaper  is  hardly  ever  seen.  One  of  the 
banks  was  called  the  Salisbury  and  Shaftesbury  Bank,  and 
part  of  the  notes  are  dated  at  one  place,  and  part  at  the  other. 
Those  notes,  which  were  dated  at  the  latter  place,  were  to  be 
proved  at  meetings  to  beheld  there;  so  that,  many  of  the  poor 
fellows,  who  had  brought  their  notes  to  Salisbury,  were  told, 
that  they  must  carry  them  to  Shaftcsbury,  a  place  at  twenty 
miles  distance  !  The  holder  of  each  note,  was,  I  understand, 
compelled,  in  order  to  have  a  claim  to  any  dividend,  to  swear 
that  he  had  given  the  full  value  of  the  note  ;  so  that,  one  man 
could  not  demand  payment  of  the  note  of  any  other  man  ;  and, 
people  could  not  sell  the  notes  for  any  thin?  beloio  their  no- 
minal value.  It  is  evident,  that,  under  circumstances  like 
these,  a  great  portion  of  the  poor  people  who  hold  any  of  these 


p 
b 


102  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

with  the  present  scenes  before  your  eyes,  might  be 
a  little  more  impudent,  but  not  a  whit  more  contrary 
to  truth,  than  the  assertion  above  noticed,  and  I  trust, 
completely  refuted. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 
Monday,  24=th  September,  1810. 

notes,  will  lose  the  whole  amount  of  them.  I  have  two  men, 
for  instance,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  be  of  this  numher, 
James  Gullingham  and  William  Hurckett,  the  former  of  whom 
had  a  .five  pound  note,  and  the  latter  a  one  pound  note,  both 
issued  under  the  name  of  Bowles,  Ogden,  and  Wyndham,  and 
both  which  notes  I  have  now  lying  upon  the  table  before  me. 
These  men  are  at  twenty-eight  miles  distance  from  Salisbury; 
to  present  the  notes  at  the  Meeting  would  have  required  three 
days'  absence  from  home  in  the  midst  of  harvest,  besides  their 
expenses  at  Salisbury  and  upon  the  road,  which,  without  the 
expense  of  the  affidavit,  would  have  amounted  to  more  than 
the  one  pound  note  of  Hurckett,  to  say  nothing  about  the  ex- 
penses attending  the  receipt  of  the  dividends.  Indeed,  upon 
the  circumstances  being  related  to  me,  I  was  quite  satisfied 
that  any  attempt  of  poor  Gullingham  to  recover  his  debt  from 
Messrs.  Bowles,  Ogden,  and  Wyndham,  even  supposing  them 
to  pay  20  shillings  in  the  pound,  would  be  a  losing  concern, 
and  that  the  best  way  was  for  me  to  take  the  debt  off  their 
hands.  I  intend  to  s'end  the  pretty  little  bits  of  paper  down 
to  them,  with  a  request,  that  they  will  paste  them  upon  two 
little  boards,  and  hang  them  up  in  their  cottages,  not  only  by 
way  of  ornament,  but  as  a  lesson  to  their  neighbours  and  their 
children.  I  dare  say,  that  there  are  many  considerate  mas- 
ters who  will  act  in  like  manner;  but  it  must  be  manifest  to 
every  one,  that  hundreds  of  poor  families  will  suffer,  and  very 
severely  suffer,  from  this  one  failure.  What,  then,  must  be 
the  consequence,  if  these  failures  should  become  general  ? 
and,  does  it  not  become  every  one,  who  wishes  to  see  the 
peace  and  independence  of  the  country  preserved,  to  use  his 
utmost  endeavours  to  convince  the  public  of  the  necessity  of 
measures  to  restore  to  circulation  the  gold  and  silver  coin,  and 
thereby  to  prevent,  if  possible,  those  dreadful  convulsions,  in 
which  the  issue  of  a  paper  currency,  not  convertible  into 
specie,  have  but  too  frequently,  not  to  say,  invariably,  ended ? 


VAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  103 


LETTER  VIII. 

That  provisions  and  labour  should  become  dear  by  the  increase  of  trade 
andmoney  is,  in  many  respects,  an  inconvenience  ;  but  an  inconvenience 
that  is  unavoidable,  and  the  effect  of'  that  public  wealth  and  prosperity 
which  are  the  end  of  all  our  wishes.  It  is  compensated  by  the  advantages 
which  we  reap  from  the  possession  of  those  PRECIOUS  METALS,  and 
the  weight  which,  they  give  the  nation  in  all  foreign  wars  and  negotia- 
tions ;  but  there  appears  no  reason  for  increasing  that  inconvenience  by 
a,  counterfeit  money,  which  foreigners  will  not  accept  of  in  any  pay- 
ment, and  which  any  great  disorder  in  the  state  will  reduce  to  no- 
thing. ' ' — Hume. 


Further  Observations  respecting  the  fallacious  Notion  that 
Paper  Money  is  the  Consequence  of  an  Increase  of  Trade 
and  of  National  Prosperity— Sir  John  Sinclair's  Idea  about 
Roads  and  Canals— Exemplification  in  the  Instances  of 
France  and  the  American  States— Destruction  of  the  Paper 
Money  in  both  those  Countries,  the  dawn  of  National  Pros- 
perity—Our  own  history  shows  the  Influence  of  a  National 
Debt  in  producing  Bank  Notes— Our  Bank  was  the  Offspring 
of  the  Debt— The  Bank  was  necessary  in  order  to  pay  the 
Interest  of  the  Debt— Boldness  of  Mr.  Jackson  and  Sir 
John  Sinclair  in  asserting  that  Paper  Money  is  necessary 
to  Trade,  and  is  a  Mine  of  National  Prosperity— What 
would  Hume  have  said  if  he  had  been  told  that  Scotland 
\vould  produce  a  man  to  assert  what  Sir  John  Sinclair  has 
asserted? — The  "  LO  HERE  !"  and  the  "  LO  THERE!" — The 
real  cause  of  the  increase  of  the  Bank  Notes — That  Increase 
shown  to  have  kept  pace  with  the  Increase  of  the  Debt — 
Conclusion  of  this  part  of  our  subject. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  the  foregoing  Letter  we  opened  the  way  to- 
wards the  history  of  the  Stoppage  of  Gold  and  Silver, 
or.  Real-money  payments,  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
in  the  year  1797,  by  showing  the  divers  ways  in 
which  bank-notes  get  out  into  circulation,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  divers  motives  for  making  those  notes; 
and  by  clearly  showing  also,  in  reasoning  upon  gene- 
ral principles,  that  it  is  Debt  and  not  Wealth,  that 
generates  promissory  notes,  of  whatever  sort  they 
may  be^  or  by  whomsoveer  issued.  So  fond,  how- 
ever, have  we  been  upon  this  subject,  and  such  great 
pains,  for  so  long  a  time,  have  been  taken  to  make 
us  believe,  that  the  increase  of  the  paper-currency 
proceeds  from  an  increase  of  trade,  or  of  something 
favourable  to  us,  that  I  should  not  be  perfectly  sa- 


104  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

tisfied  with  myself  were  I  to  hasten  forward,  without 
first  submitting  to  you  all  the  observations  that  have 
occurred  to  me  upon  this  part  of  our  subject. 

When  those,  who,  from  whatever  motive,  have 
written  in  favour  of  the  Paper  System,  have  had  to 
account  for  the  vast  increase  in  the  quantity  of  the 
bank  notes,  they  have  always  had  recourse  to  our 
" increasing  trade"  and  "  wealth"  and  "prosperity" 
and  "improvement;"  and  they  have,  like  Sir  JOHN 
SINCLAIR,  bid  us  look  at  the  increase  of  turnpike- 
roads  and  canals  and  harbours  and  new  inclosures. 
Now,  this  reference  to  roads,  canals,  harbours,  and 
inclosures  is  singularly  unhappy  ;  for,  the  Emperor 
Napoleon,  in  his  annual  speeches,  to  his  Corps  Le- 
gislatif,  or  Parliament,  tells  them  of  new  roads  and 
canals,  compared  to  which  ours  are  not  worth  na- 
ming, while  we  know  pretty  well  that  he  has,  du- 
ring this  war  even,  made  a  harbour  and  an  arsenal 
and  a  fleet  too,  where  there  was  before  no  semblance 
of  maritime  means  ;  to  get  at  which  fleet,  or,  rather 
to  attempt  to  get  at  it,  has  cost  us  all  the  lives  and 
all  the  millions  of  taxes  expended  in  the  Walcheren 
Expedition ;  and,  while  we  see,  that,  as  to  agricul- 
tural improvements,  France  is  able  to  let  us  have 
bread.  Therefore,  as  this  is  the  case  in  France, 
and  as  these  same  writers  assure  us,  that  the  people 
of  France  are  in  a  state  of  extreme  misery r,  methinks 
that  new  canals  and  roads  and  harbours  and  agricul- 
tural improvements  should  not,  by  these  writers,  at 
any  rate,  be  cited  as  proofs  of  national  prosperity. 

But,  what  have  these  exertions  of  genins  and  in- 
dustry ;  these  efforts  of  the  bodily  or  mental  facul- 
ties of  a  people ;  what  have  these  to  do  with  paper- 
money  ?  There  is  no  paper-money  in  France. 
Yet  the  French  make  roads  and  canals  and  har- 
bours and  agricultural  improvements.  There  is 
no  paper-money,  by  which  we  always  mean,  paper 
not  convertible  into  gold  or  silver  at  the  will  of 
the  holder  ;  there  is  no  paper  of  this  kind  in  the 
AMERICAN  STATES  j  yet,  it  is  pretty  notorious  that 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  105 

there  are  improvements  going  on  in  those  Slates, 
some  of  which  are  truly  astonishing,  and  one  instance 
in  particular,  I  cannot  help  giving  you,  just  as  I 
found  it  published  in  the  London  newspapers  of  the 
llth  of  last  month.*  Having  seen  and  admired  this 

*•  It  is  now  a  little  more  than  five  years,  since  a  number  of 
German  families,  styling  themselves  "  THE  HARMONY  SO- 
CIETY," went  to  the  United  States,  with  the  view  of  forming 
a  distinct  settlement.  They  soon  planted  themselves  in  the 
wilderness  of  BUTLER  COUNTY,  in  the  north-western  corner 
of  PENNSYLVANIA.  The  following  account  of  the  origin,  and 
progress  of  their  settlement  is  copied  from  the  Mirror,  a  paper 
published  in  the  neighbourhood  of  this  frugal  and  industrious 
and  thriving  people :— The  Association  of  Harmonv  had  its 
origin  in  Germany  upwards  of  20  years  ago ;  and,  feeling 
themselves  much  oppressed  on  account  of  their  religion,  they 
concluded  to  seek  a  country  where  they  could  exercise  their 
religion  without  hinderance  or  oppression.— They  chose  the 
United  States  of  America.  In  the  year  1804,  in  December, 
about  20  families  arrived  in  Zelinople,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
which,  Mr.  George  Rapp,  with  some  others,  bought  about 
4,700  acres  of  land,  and  during  that  fall  built  nine  log-houses. 
— In  the  year,  1805,  in  the  spring,  the  Society  consisted  of 
about  50  families:  they  laid  out  the  town  of  Harmony  on 
their  own  land,  and,  in  that  spring,  built  twelve  log-houses 
94  feet  by  18,  built  a  large  barn,  cleared  25  acres  round  the 
town,  and  151  acres  for  corn,  and  50  acres  for  potatoes  ;  a 
grist-mill  was  built  this  year,  the  race  3-8ths  of  a  mile  long, 
and  15  acres  cleared  for  meadow,  the  other  ground  sowed 
with  wheat  and  rye  ;  in  the  fall  and  winter,  30  houses  more 
were  built. — In  the  year  1806  an  inn  was  built  two  stories  high, 
42  by  32  feet,  and  some  other  houses  ;  300  acres  cleared  for 
corn,  58  acres  for  meadow  ;  an  oil-mill  was  built,  and  a  tan- 
nery, a  blue  dyer's  shop,  and  a  frame  barn  100  feet  long.  In 
the  year  1807,  360  acres  were  cleared  for  grain  and  a  meadow,  a 
brick  store-house  built,  a  saw-mill  and  beer-brewery  erected, 
and  four  acres  of  vines  planted  :  in  this  year  the  Society  sold  500 
bushels  of  grain,  and  3,000  gallons  of  whiskey  manufactured 
by  themselves  of  their  own  produce.— In  the  year  1808,  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  ground  cleared,  a  meeting-house  built 
of  brick,  70  feet  long  and  55  feet  wide,  another  brick  house 
built,  some  other  buildings  and  stables  for  cattle,  pot-ash, 
soap-boiler  and  candle-drawer  shops,  erected,  a  frame  barn 
of  80  feet  long  built.  Of  the  produce  of  this  year  were  sold 
2,000  bushels  of  grain  ;  and  1,400  bushels  were  distilled.— 
In  the  year  1809,  a  fulling-mill  was  built,  which  does  a  great 
deal  of  business  for  the  country,  also  a  hemp-mill,  an  oil-mill, 
a  grist-mill,  a  brick  warehouse  46  feet  by  36,  and  another 


106  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

wonderful,  aixd,  perhaps,  unparalleled,  instance  of 
prosperity  and  happiness  proceeding  from  the  united 
exertions  of  genius  and  industry  ;  and,  being  at  the 
same  time  aware,  that  something  approaching  to- 
wards it  must  necessarily  be  going  on  in  other  parts 
of  the  country,  you  have  only  to  know,  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  paper-money  in  any  part  of 
that  country  ;  for,  then  your  conclusion  must  be,  that 
a  paper-money  is  not  necessary  to  create,  or  to  aid 
the  operations 'of,  genius  and  industry  ;  and,  history, 
at  once  to  inform  and  console  you,  affords  you  these 
further  facts,  that  both  in  France  and  America,  there 
has  been  a  paper-money  ;  that,  in  both  countries, 
that  money  has  met  with  its  total  destruction  ;  and 
that,  since  such  destruction,  both  countries  have 
flourished  much  more  than  they  did  while  that  money 
was  in  existence. 

brick  building  of  the  same  dimensions,  one  of  which  has  a 
cellar  completely  arched  under  the  whole,  for  the  purpose  of 
a  wine-cellar.  A  considerable  quantity  of  land  cleared  this 
year.  The  produce  of  this  year  was  6,000  bushels  of  Indian 
corn,  4,500  bushels  of  wheat,  5,000  bushels  of  oats,  10,000 
bushels  of  potatoes,  4.000lbs.  of  hemp  and  flax,  100  bushels 
of  barley  brewed  into  beer,  and  50  gallons  of  sweet  oil,  made 
from  the  white  poppy.  Of  the  produce  of  this  year  will  be 
sold,  3,000  bushels  of  corn,  1,000  bushels  of  potat9es,  1,000 
bushels  of  wheat ;  1,200  bushels  of  rye  will  be  distilled.— In 
the  year  IttlO  will  be  erected  a  barn  90  feet  long,  a  school- 
house  50  fe-3t  by  44  wide,  a  grist-mill  with  three  pair  of  stones, 
one  of  which  will  be  burrs,  and  some  small  brick-houses  for 
families. — The  society  now  consists  of  780  persons,  compri- 
sing 140  families ;  they  have  now  1,600  acres  of  land  cleared, 
203  acres  whereof  are  in  meadow,  and  possess  at  present, 
6,000  acres  of  land.— There  are  different  tradesmen  members 
of  this  society,  who  work  for  the  country  as  well  as  the  so- 
ciety, to  wit :  Twelve  shoemakers,  six  tailors,  twelve  wea- 
vers, three  wheel-wrights,  five  coopers,  six  blacksmiths,  two 
nail-smiths,  three  rope-makers,  three  blue  dyers,  ten  carpen- 
ters, four  cabinet-makers,  two  sadlers,  two  wagon-makers, 
twelve  masons,  two  potters,  one  soap-boiler,  a  doctor  and 
apothecary ;  but  neither  parson  nor  lawyer,  and  in  a  short 
time  a  hatter  and  a  tin-plate  worker  are  expected. — During 
the  last  year  the  shoemakers  alone  worked  for  the  country  to 
the  amount  of  112  dollars  and  8  cents,  the  coopers  to  the 
amount  of  207  dollars,  the  sadlers  to  the  amount  of  739  dollars 
64  cents,  the  tannery  675  dollars,  the  blacksmiths  180  dollars. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  107 

What  have  the  partisans  of  the  Paper  System  to 
offer  in  answer  to  this?  Will  any  one  of  them  ven- 
ture to  look  these  facts  in  the  face  ?  I  do  not  be- 
lieve they  will.  They  will,  I  should  suppose,  rather 
choose  to  confine  themselves  to  a  dull  re-assertion  of 
their  former  assertions,  interspersed,  may  be,  with  a 
seasoning  of  abuse  upon  those,  by  whom  their  igno- 
rance, or  insincerity,  is  detected  and  exposed.  But, 
without  resorting  to  the  instances  furnished  in  foreign 
countries,  have  we  not,  in  the  history  of  our  own 
finances,  quite  a  sufficient  proof,  that  paper-money, 
or,  indeed,  bank-notes  of  any  sort,  are  not  the  re- 
presentatives of  any  thing  but  Debt  ?  In  every 
country,  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  a  Go- 
vernment Debt  has  been  accompanied  with  bank- 
notes, or  payments  in  paper,  of  some  sort  or  other, 
no  matter  under  what  name.  The  Debt,  in  England, 
did,  as  we  have  seen,  (Letter  II,  p.  34)  begin  in  the 
year  1692  ;  and  there  appeared,  at  first,  no  intention 
to  pay  either  the  interest  or  the  principal  in  any  thing 
but  the  usual  <*old  and  silver  coin  of  the  country. 
People  lent  their  guineas  and  crown  pieces,  and  there 
was  not  the  smallest  notion  of  their  being  repaid  in 
any  thing  but  guineas  and  crown  pieces.  But  it  was 
soon  found,  that  to  pay  the  interest  of  its  Debt,  the 
Government  needed  something  other  than  gold  and 
silver ;  which,  indeed,  any  one  might  have  foreseen, 
because  the  Debt  itself  necessarily  arose  from  the 
want  of  gold  and  silver  within  the  reach  of  the 
Government.  It  was,  therefore,  supreme  folly  to 
suppose,  that  the  Government,  who  had  borrowed 
people's  guineas  from  want,  would  long  have  guineas 
enough  to  carry  on  wars  and  to  pay  those  people  too. 
Accordingly,  in  only  two  years  after  the  Debt  began, 
the  Bank  was  established;  the  Bank  made  notes; 
these  notes,  as  far  as  they  went,  supplied  the  place  of 
real  money ;  and,  very  soon,  by  giving  all  possible 
countenance  and  support  to  the  Bank,  the  Govern- 
ment got  great  part  of  the  interest  of  its  Debt  paid 
in  bank  notes.  Thus  were  the  bank  notes,  from  the 


108  PAP£R  AGAINST  GOLD. 

very  outset,  as,  indeed,  all  promissory  notes  must 
must  be,  the  representatives  of  Debt,  and  not 
of  wealth,  of  prosperity,  or  of  trade  ;  and,  if  this 
was  the  case,  at  a  time  when  these  notes  were  con- 
vertible, into  gold  and  silver,  shall  we  now  look 
upon  them  in  a  better  light  ? 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  voice  of  history  and  of 
reason,  and  even  in  spite  of  common  sense,  there 
are  (as  in  the  instances  of  Mr.  RANDALL  JACKSON  and 
Sir  JOHN  SINCLAIR)  men  to  be  found,  so  ignorant  or 
so  hardy  as  to  hold  up  bank-notes,  promissory  notes, 
and  promissory  notes,  too,  not  convertible  into  real 
'money:  there  are  men  tosbe  found  to  hold  up  this 
paper^money,  which,  as  we  have  clearly  shown,  is 
always  issued  in  consequence  of  Debt,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  want  of  real  money,  and  which  paper- 
money  is,  as  BURKE  (  See  the  Motto  to  LetterVII.  page 
91)  well  describes  it,  "  not  the  measure  of  the  trade 
of  its  nation,  but  of  the  necessities  of  its  govern- 
ment :"  there  are  men  to  be  found,  who,  like  Mr. 
JACKSON,  insist  that  an  increase  of  paper-money  is 
called  for  by  an  increase  of  trade  ;  and,  who,  like 
the  bolder  BARONET,  scruple  not  to  assert,  that,  "  the 
abundance  of  circulation"  (speaking  of  bank  notes 
not  convertible  into  gold  and  silver)  "  is  the  great 
source  of  our  opulence  and  strength,  and  a  MINE 
of  national  prosperity  ;"  yea,  who  have  the  bold- 
ness to  call  promissory  notes,  which  are  issued  only 
because  the  issuers  are  not  able  to  pay  in  money, 
a  mine  of  national  prosperity  ;  and,  who  are  hardy 
enough  to  make  this  assertion  at  the  very  moment 
when  they  themselves  are  declaring,  that  it  would 
be  ruinous  to  attempt  to  force  the  issuers  of  suchf 
notes  to  pay  them  in  money  when  presented. 

HUME,  as  will  be  seen  from  that  passage  of  his 
Essay  on  Money,  from  which  I  have  taken  my  motto, 
observes,  that  there  is  an  inconvenience  in  the  in- 
crease of  real  money,  which,  as  was  shown  in  the 
last  Letter,  is  naturally  produced  by  an  increase  of 
trade ;  and  he  calls  bank  notes  (though,  observe, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  109 

convertible  into  gold  and  silver,  as  they  were  in  his 
time,)  counterfeit  money.  What,  then,  would  tie 
have  said  of  our  present  bank  notes  ;  what  would  he 
have  said  of  bank  notes  not  convertible  into  gold 
and  silver ;  and  what  would  he  have  said,  if  he  had 
been  told,  that  Scotland  would  produce  a  man,  who 
would  tell  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  print 
too,  that  such  bank  notes  are  a  mine  of  National 
Prosperity  ? 

We  have  now,  I  think,  said  quite  enough  to  con- 
vince any  man,  whose  faculties  enable  him  to  dis- 
tinguish falsehood  from  truth,  that  the  notion  of  an 
increase  of  trade  demanding  an  increase  of  paper- 
money  is  one  of  the  most  gross  delusions,  that  either 
ignorance  or  an  intention  to  deceive  ever  attempted 
to  practise  upon  mankind.  We  have,  in  short, 
clearly  shown,  that  the  increase  of  bank  notes,  and 
of  promissory  notes  of  every  description,  are  produced 
by  Debt,  are  the  offspring  and  representatives  of 
Debt,  and  that  real  money,  and  real  money  only, 
is  the  representative  of  property p,  or  wealth,  or  things 
of  real  value,  and,  of  course,  that  an  increase  of 
trade,  which  is  only  another  term  for  an  increase  of 
•moneys-worth  things,  demands,  and  if  there  be  no 
unnatural  cause  to  prevent  it,  will,  of  itself,  bring 
into  circulation  an  increase  of  real  money. 

To  acknowledge  this  truth  would,  however,  have 
been  so  manifestly  injurious  to  the  Paper  Money 
System,  that  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  partizans 
of  that  system  (which  is  but  another  name  for  those 
who  have  profited,  and  do  still  profit,  from  it)  should 
have  taken  uncommon  pains  to  avoid  the  acknow- 
ledgment, and  even  to  maintain,  with  their  utmost 
ability,  any  opinion  of  a  contrary  tendency.  Hence 
all  the-absurdities,  that  we  find  in  the  various  speeches 
and  pamphlets,  uttered  and  written  upon  the  subject, 
and  in  which  the  increase  of  the  bank-notes,  and  now 
of  the  paper-money,  have  been,  at  different  times, 
attributed  to  almost  every  cause  but  the  real  one. 
At  one  time,  it  was  the  enterprise  in  commerce ;  at 
10 


130  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD, 

another,  the  enterprise  in  roads  and  canals  ;  at  ano- 
ther, the  "  pressure  of  the  war,"  which  was,  as  a 
distant  cause,  true ;  at  another,  it  was  a  "  temporary 
alarm  ;"  as  another,  it  was  speculations  abroad  ;  at 
another,  it  was  the  u  influx  of  wealth  ;"  at  another, 
it  was  Jacobinism. ;  and  now  there  are  three  causes, 
an  increase  of  trade,  the  embarrassment  to  trade 
occasioned  by  Napoleon's  commercial  warfare  against 
us,  and  the  exportation  of  gold!  These  last-men- 
tioned causes,  which  any  one  may  hear  from,  per- 
haps, the  three  first  persons  whom  he  meets  in 
Threadneedle-Street,  do,  to  be  sure,  most  admirably 
accord  with  each  other  !  But,  it  is  the  lot  of  false- 
hood to  contradict  itself. 

In  the  mean  while,  however,  very  great  is  the 
mischief  which  arises  from  the  misguiding  of  the 
public  mind.  The  people,  while  amused  with  this 
"  Lo  here  /"  and  "  Lo  there  /"  see  not  that  which 
they  ought  to  see ;  they  see  not  the  real  cause  of  the 
increase  of  the  paper-money,  the  real  cause  of  the 
gold  and  silver  having  gone  out  of  circulation  ; 
and,  of  course,  they  use  no  endeavours,  they  express 
ao  wish  to  see  adopted  any  measures.,  calculated  to 
remove  that  cause,  and  to  relieve  their  country  from 
this,  the  most  formidable  of  all  the  dangers  with 
which  it  is  threatened. 

That  this  real  cause  is  no  other,  than  the  increase 
of  the  Debt  contracted  by  the  Government,  cannot, 
I  think,  be  doubted  by  any  one,  who  has  gone  pa- 
tiently through  the  foregoing  Letters,  and  who  must 
have  seen,  that,  as  the  Dtbt  increased,  the  bank 
notes  became  of  greater  amount  in  the  whole,  and  of 
sums  smaller  and  smaller,  till,  at  last,  they  came 
down  to  a  single  pound.  At  first,  and  for  half  a 
century,  there  were  no  bank  notes  for  a  sum  less 
than  twenty  pounds.  When  the  Debt  got  to  about 
70  millions,  there  were  fifteen  pound-notes  made ; 
before  it  reached  150  millions,  there  were  ten  pound- 
notes  made ;  and  before  it  had  reached  300  millions, 
there  were  Jive  pound-notes  made;  and  before  it  had 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  Ill 

reached  500  millions,  there  were  two  pound-notes 
and  one  pound-notes  made.  Since  it  reached  500 
millions,  there  have  been  in  some  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, notes  made  to  represent  silver-coins  j  and  the 
SILVER  TOKENS,  issued  from  the  Bank  of  England, 
the  intrinsic  value  of  which  is  less  than  the  nominal, 
have  been  circulated  over  the  country,  while  the 
gold-coin,  of  every  value,  has  almost  wholly  disap- 
peared, is  notoriously  exported,  and  while  English 
guineas,  not  one  of  which  is  seen  by  hardly  any  man 
in  England,  in  the  course  of  a  month,  make  part  of 
the  common  current  coin  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
in  the  American  States,  and  more  especially  in 
France  ;  aye,  in  that  very  country,  which  PITT  and 
his  associates  told  us,  over  and  over  again,  was  in 
"  the  very  gulph  of  Bankruptcy  ;"  and  which  we 
were,  year  after  year,  induced  to  believe  would  be 
totally  ruined  by  the  fall  of  that  paper-money,  the 
place  of  which  has  been,  in  a  great  part,  supplied  by 
our  guineas  ! 

Thus,  then,  we  have  seen,  both  from  reason  and 
experience,  that  it  is  Debt  which  produces  bank  notes, 
and  paper-promises  of  every  sort ;  and,  having  seen 
the  manner  in  which  these  paper-promises  get  out 
amongst  us,  and  how  their  increase  has  kept  pace 
with  the  increase  of  our  Debt,  we  shall,  in  the  next 
Letter,  proceed  to  trace  this  increase  to  that  grand 
and  memorable  effect,  the  Stoppage  of  Gold  and 
Silver  payments,  at  the  Bank  of  England,  in  1797. 
I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  Sincere  Friend, 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  21th  Sept.  1810. 


112  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 


LETTER  IX. 

The  consternation  was  general  through  the  whole  kingdom.  Thousand! 
of  families  were  utterly  ruined,  and  "reduced  from  opulence  to  beggary. 
Despair  seemed  to  have  seized  upon  the  country,  in  which  so  many  sui- 
cides were  never  before  heard  of."— HISTORY  OF  THE  SOUTH  SEA 
BUBBLE. 


This  Letter  a  Digression  from  the  regular  line  of  the  Dis- 
cussion— Death  of  Abraham  Gold 8 mid t  the  great  Jew 
Money-Dealer— Effect  of  it  described,  as  to  the  Funds — 
He  and  Sir  Francis  Baring  called  the  Pillars  of  the  City— 
The  Corporation  of  Lpndon  thought  nothing  of— Perilous 
State  of  the  Country,  if  such  be  the  Pillars  of  its  Credit— 
Goldsmidt's  Character — His  Charities— His  princely  Enter- 
tainments—His Transactions  with  Sir  John  Peter  at  the 
Exchequer  Bill  Office— The  Motive  for  the  Act  of  Self-Mur- 
der—A  Hint  at  the  reasons  why  this  Jew  has  been  so 
praised ;  and  why  benevolent  Jew  Characters  have  been 
introduced  in  to  some  of  our  Modern  Stage  Plays— The  cause 
of  Goldsmidt's  committing  the  Act — History  of  the  Loan- 
Transactions — What  Omnium  and  Discount  are— Progress 
of  the  Fall  of  the  price  of  Stocks — Newspaper  Puffs  to  keep 
them  up— What  must  be  the  State  of  the  Country  if  such 
trifling  Causes  produce  Discredit— "  Capital,  Credit,  and  Con- 
fidence"— What  security  have  we  that  Things  will  not  be- 
come worse  ? — The  effect  upon  the  Minds  of  our  Enemies 
—Can  it  be  supposed  that  People  will  purchase  Stock,  or 
hold  Stock,  if  the  Fabric  be  so  frail?— May  not  Napoleon 
cause  a  Combination  against  the  Funds  '?— Of  the  Remedy 
or  Expedient  talked  of— The  Loan-Makers  have  no  Claim 
to  Compensation  for  any  Loss  they  may  sustain— The  fa- 
mous and  immortal  Loyalty  Loan  in  the  Days  of  Pitt — 
This  Case  different  from  that  of  the  present  Loan-Makers 
—Conclusion  of  the  Digression. 

GENTLEMEN, 

THE  death,  of  ABRAHAM  GOLDSMIDT,  the  rich  Jew, 
mentioned  in  Letter  I,  page  20,  and  who  is  said  to 
have  shot  himself  on  Friday  last,  the  28th  of  Sep- 
tember ;  this  death  is,  in  the  history  and  progress  of 
the  Paper-Money  System,  an  incident  of  some  im- 
portance, and,  at  this  time,  worthy  of  our  particular 
attention  ;  because  the  circumstances  connected  with 
it  afford,  perhaps,  a  more  striking  and  satisfactory 
illustration,  than  any  other  that  can  be  imagined,  of 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  113 

the  loan-making'  transactions.  In  inquiries  which 
are  of  an  intricate  nature,  it  is  always  advantageous 
to  be  able  to  combine  practice  with  principle  ;  and 
we  shall,  I  think,  find  in  the  circumstances  just  al- 
luded to,  such  a  development,  such  a  practical  ex- 
emplification, of  some  of  the  principles  which  we 
have  laid  down,  as  could  scarcely  have  been  derived 
from  any  other  source.  The  present  Letter  will, 
indeed,  turn  us  a  little  aside  from  the  direct  line  of 
our  pursuit,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  Digres- 
sion; but,  it  will  not  tend  to  confuse  us,  and  the 
matter  of  it  will  be  found  of  great  use  to  us  during 
the  rest  of  our  inquiry. 

The  newspapers,  and  particularly  those  which 
praise  the  Government  unceasingly,  have  stated, 
that,  when  the  intelligence  of  this  man's  death 
reached  the  city  of  London  (he  having  shot  himself 
at  his  house,  or  rather  palace,  at  the  village  of  MOR- 
DEN  in  Surrey)  all  was  confusion  and  consternation. 
They  tell  us,  that  "  The  Stock  Exchange,  Capel- 
court,  and  even  the  Royal  Exchange,  were  crowded, 
all  persons  eagerly  making  inquiries  about  this 
event,  and  forgetting  almost  every  thing  else. — 
Little  or  no  business  was  done.  We  question  whe- 
ther peace  or  war  suddenly  made,  ever  created 
such  a  bustle"*  We  are  told,  that  " Words  would 
be  inadequate  to  express  the  surprise,  the  alarm  and 
dismay  that  were  visible. "f  We  are  further  told, 
that  the  moment  the  intelligence  reached  the  city  of 
London,  u  the  FUNDS  felt  the  effect,  and  3  per  cent. 
Stock  fell  from  66^-  to  63f;"J  that  is  to  say,  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  this  sort  of  property  instantly 
lost  in  value  about  3  pounds  in  every  hundred.  We 
are  told,  in  another  place,  that  "  the  Ministers  sent 
off  a  messenger,  with  the  melancholy  tidings,  to  the 
King  and  to  the  Prince  of  Wales."§ 

And  all  this  for  the  death  of  a  Jew  merchant  ? 

*  COURIER  Newspaper,  28th  Sept.  t  Ibid, 

t  TIMES  Newspaper,  29th  Sept.  §  COURIER  Newspaper, 
28th  Sept. 

10* 


114  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

The  King  and  the  Heir  Apparent  to  be  informed 
of  it  by  a  royal  messenger  1  And,  is  it  really  true, 
that  this  man's  having  shot  himself  made  the  citi- 
zens of  London  forget  almost  every  thing  else  ?  Is 
it  really  true,  that  such  an  event  put  business  nearly 
at  a  stand  ?  Is  it  really  true,  that  it  produced  an 
effect  equal  to  peace  or  war  suddenly  made  ?  And 
is  it  true ;  is  there  truth  in  the  shameful  fact,  that  a 
Jew  Merchant's  shooting  himself  produced  alarm 
and  dismay  in  the  capital  of  England,  which  is 
also  called,  and  not  very  improperly,  perhaps,  the 
emporium  of  the  world. 

If  all  this  be  true,  it  is  high  time  that  we  become 
acquainted  with  the  reasons  why  such  a  person  was 
thought  of  so  much  consequence,  and  that  we  con- 
sider well  the  tendency  of  a  system,  that  could 
make  his  life  or  his  death  an  object  of  national  im- 
portance. One  of  the  public  prints  presents  us  with 
the  following  disconsolate  reflection :  "  The  muta- 
bility of  human  affairs  has  been  strongly  evinced 
during  the  last  few  weeks. — Sir  FRANCIS  BARING 
and  MR.  A.  GOLDSMIDT,  who  were  considered  as  the 
PILLARS  OF  THE  CITY,  are  both  dead  within 
that  time.  The  effects  their  deaths  have  had  on  the 
funds  of  the  country  will  best  bespeak  the  support 
they  gave  them  while  they  lived."*  What !  The  Pil- 
lars of  th  e  City  of  London !  The  Corporation  of  that 
famous  City,  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  Sheriffs,  Com- 
mon Counsellors,  and  the  Liverymen ;  all  these  ; 
the  whole  of  this  admirably  constituted  body,  to 
which,  upon  so  many  occasions,  the  people  of  the 
kingdom  have  been  indebted  for  the  preservation  of 
their  liberties ;  the  whole  of  this  body  sinks  out  of 
sight,  and  all  the  Companies  of  industrious  and  inge- 
nious Tradesmen  along  with  it ;  they  all  become 
nothing,  at  the  mention  of  the  names  of  a  couple  of 
dealers  in  funds  and  paper-money  !  With  eyes  very 
different  indeed  do  I  view  the  parties  j  and,  though  I 

*  TIMES  Newspaper,  29th  Sept. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  115 

desire  not  the  death  of  either,  and  am  as  sorry  as 
you,  my  neighbours,  to  hear  of  the  untimely  death 
of  any  man,  I  have  not  the  smallest  hesitation  in 
saying,  that  I  look  upon  the  life  of  Sir  FRANCIS  BA- 
RING, or  that  of  GOLDSMIDT,  as  being  of  no  more,  it 
so  much,  value  to  England,  as  that  of  any  one  of 
your  apprentices,  or  plough-boys;  and  I  have  no 
doubt,  that,  before  we  arrive  at  the  close  of  this 
Series  of  Letters,  you  will  see  good  reason  for  be- 
lieving, that  my  opinion  is  founded  in  a  just  esti- 
mate of  the  nature  and  tendency  of  the  professions 
of  these  several  parties. 

But  are  these  writers  aware  of  the  import  of  their 
words,  when  they  tell  us,  that  the  two  persons  above- 
mentioned  were  the  PILLARS  of  the  City  ;  that  they 
gave  support  to  the  funds  of  the  country  ;  and  that 
their  deaths  have  occasioned  those  Funds  to  fall  ? 
Are  these  writers  aware  of  the  tendency  of  such  decla- 
rations? Do  they  consider  what  it  is  that  they  are 
saying ;  what  it  is  they  are  proclaiming  to  the  peo- 
ple and  to  the  world  ?  If  they  do,  and  if  they 
expect  to  be  believed,  their  intention  must  be  to 
destroy  all  confidence  in  the  Funds  and  Stocks :  for 
what  man  in  his  senses  can  possibly  confide  in  that 
which  leans  for  support  upon  the  life  of  individuals ; 
and  of  individuals,  too,  who,  from  the  perils  of  their 
very  calling,  are  liable  to  be  driven  to  commit  acts 
of  suicide?  In  some  cases,  we  are  compelled  to 
leave  our  property  dependent  upon  the  lives  of  indi- 
viduals ;  but  no  man  with  his  intellects  perfect,  ever 
does  this  from  choice  ;  and  if  these  writers  should 
make  the  public  in  general  believe,  or  if  the  public 
from  any  other  cause  should  believe,  that  the  Funds 
stand  in  need  of  the  support  of  individuals,  it  is  a 
pretty  clear  case,  that  the  price  of  them  must  fall 
very  low,  before  many  people  will  be  inclined  to  dis- 
pose of  their  solid  property,  in  order  to  purchase 
Stock.  They  must  come  down  to  almost  nothing, 
and  the  purchase  must  be  a  sort  of  gambling;  for 
no  man  will  lay  out  his  money  in  Stock,  as  men 


116  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

hitherto  have  done,  if  it  should  become  matter  of 
general  belief,  that  the  Funds  are  in  any  degree  de- 
pendent upon  the  lives,  and,  of  course,  upon  the  will 
of  individuals. 

We  will  now  see  (for  it  is  very  curious)  what  has 
been  said  as  to  the  cause  of  GOLDSMIDT'S  putting  an 
end  to  his  life ;  and,  that  will  let  us  into  matter  es- 
sentially belonging  to  our  subject.  But,  before  we 
proceed  any  further,  I  think  myself  called  upon  to 
make  a  few  remarks  upon  what  has.  in  some  of  our 
newspapers,  been  said,  about  the  character  of  this 
man ;  for,  though  I  have  no  desire  to  say  any  harm 
of  him,  or  to  cause  people  to  believe  harm  of  him, 
I  think  it  wrong ;  I  think  it  very  unjust  towards  my 
readers;  I  think  it  an  act  of  treason  to  the  morals 
of  my  country,  to  stand  by,  with  pen  in  hand,  and 
to  see  spread  abroad  amongst  the  people  such  un- 
qualified praises  of  a  man,  who  has  terminated  his 
existence  by  suicide,  and,  especially,  when  I  do  not 
believe  those  praises  to  be  founded  in  truth. 

We  are  told  of  his  acts  of  charity ;  his  sub- 
scriptions to  charitable  undertakings;  his  name, 
we  are  told,  was  always  seen  foremost  upon  such 
occasions.  But  why  tell  us  of  this  again,  if  every 
individual  act  has  been  carefully  printed  and  pub- 
lished before.  There  are  cases,  in  which  a  man's 
acts  of  charity  may  get  out  to  the  world  in  spite  of 
him ;  but  he  is  very  unlucky  when  his  name  is  print- 
ed upon  every  trifling  occasion,  which  has  been  the 
case  with  this  man's  charities.  Besides,  what  has 
he  given,  put  it  all  together  ?  Not,  perhaps,  the 
odd  shillings  and  pence  upon  the  enormous  sums 
that  he  has  gained  by  his  dealings  with  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  is  any  man  so  blind  as  not  to  perceive, 
that  motives  very  different  indeed  from  those  of  cha- 
rity, might  dictate  his  gifts?  A  man,  acquiring 
such  immense  wealth,  must  see  that  something  was 
necessary,  to  keep  the  public  from  grudging;  and, 
though  I  do  not  take  upon  me  to  say,  that  GOLD- 
SMIDT'S donations  proceeded  from  this  motive,  I 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  117 

cannot  help  thinking  that  they  frequently  did,  when 
I  recollect  how  many  paragraphs,  stating  the  nature 
and  amount  of  his  charities,  I  have,  at  different 
times,  read  in  the  newspapers. 

"  Who  builds  a  Church  to  God  and  not  to  fame, 
Will  ne'er  inscribe  the  marble  with  his  name." 

One  of  his  eulogists  says :  "  he  had  done  so 
many  kind  and  generous  actions — his  benevolence 
was  so  enlarged — his  public  and  private  character 
was  so  princely,  embracing  men  of  all  persua- 
sions— he  was  so  unostentatious  in  his  habits,  and 
so  mild  and  cheerful  in  his  manners ; — in  short, 
a  man  more  truly  amiable  in  all  the  relations  of  life 
never  existed.  He  was  incessantly  employed  in 
acts  of  friendship  ;  and  though,  like  every  man  of 
extensive  dealings,  he  had  to  encounter  the  bitterness 
of  opposition  and  envy,  we  never  heard  even  from 
his  most  active  rivals,  any  other  than  the  most  fa- 
vourable testimony  to  his  virtues.  He  died  in  the 
53d  years  of  his  age.  We  understand  that  which 
preyed  most  acutely  on  his  feelings,  and  wrung 
from  him  many  an  agonising  exclamation,  was  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  been  treated  by  some  per- 
sons who  had  been  under  the  greatest  obligations 
to  him.  He  had,  for  years,  been  a  man  the  most 
looked  up  to  in  the  monied  market — his  command  of 
money  had  been  immense — his  credit  unbounded. 
This  was  a  proud  situation ;  but,  elevated  as  he  was, 
it  inspired  him  with  nothing  like  hauteur  or  inso- 
lence— he  was  still  the  same  affable  man,  increasing 
in  kindness,  if  possible,  with  his  increasing  wealth."* 
The  much  greater  part  of  this  has  not,  I  am  satisfied, 
a  particle  of  truth  in  it.  Never  was  any  thing  more 
ostentatious  than  the  acts  of  benevolence,  as  they 
are  called,  of  this  man,  who,  as  I  observed  years 
ago,  merely  tossed  back  to  the  miserable  part  of  us, 
in  the  shape  of  alms,  the  fractions  of  the  pence, 
upon  the  immense  sums  of  money  that  he  got  by 

*  MORNING  POST  Newspaper,  Oct. 


118  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

his  traffic  in  loans  and  bills  and  funds.  The  pub- 
lic, if  it  has  any  memory  at  all,  must  remember  the 
accounts  that  were  given  of  his  entertainments,  at 
which  even  princes  were  present ;  and  at  which, 
probably,  as  much  was  consumed  in  an  evening  as 
would  have  maintained  the  whole  village  of  Mor- 
den  for  a  year.  Of  these  entertainments  the  most 
pompous  accounts  were  published  in  all  the  news- 
papers of  the  day ;  and,  from  the  manner  of  the 
publication,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  of  its 
having  been  paid  for.  As  to  his  having  shown  his 
hospitality  to  men  of  all  persuasions,  that  is  pre- 
cisely what  a  man  does,  who  is  more  intent  upon 
securing  the  favour  of  men  in  power,  than  upon 
cultivating  real  friendship ;  and,  indeed,  I  have,  for 
my  part,  very  little  doubt,  that  the  cost  of  the  en- 
tertainments of  GOLDSMIDT  was  always  put  down 
amongst  the  necessary  outgoings  of  his  trade. 

Thus  far,  however,  what  I  have  stated  may  be 
called  matter  of  opinion.  What  I  am  now  going 
to  state  is  matter  of  fact,  and  of  fact,  too,  that  the 
people  of  England  should  have  been  made  fully 
acquainted  with  long  ago.  I  allude  to  this  man's 
transaction  with  Sir  JOHN  PETER  in  the  funding  of 
Exchequer  Bills,  and  which  transaction  is  related 
in  a  Report  made  by  a  COMMITTEE  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  which  was  ordered  to  be  printed  on  the 
14th  of  May  last,  and  which  will  be  found  at  page 
193  of  the  Appendix  to  Vol.  XVII.  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary Debates.  And  here,  Gentlemen,  we  shall 
have  a  view  of  something  of  no  small  interest  to  us, 
as  belonging  to  the  Inquiries  in  which  we  are  en- 
gaged. 

In  Letter  VII.,  at  page  100,  mention  was  made  of 
Exchequer  Bills  ;  and  they  were  described  as  one 
sort  of  the  promissory  notes  issued  by  the  Govern- 
ment in  payment  of  persons  to  whom  they  owe 
money.  They  are  like  other  promissory  notes,  with 
this  difference,  that  they  bear  an  interest  of  so 
much  upon  each  hundred  pounds  every  day,  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  119 

rate  of  which  interest  vanes  according  to  circum- 
stances. In  short,  an  EXCHEQUER  BILL,  which  de- 
rives its  name  from  the  place  whence  it  issues,  is 
like  a  bank  note,  not  convertible  into  money  at  the 
will  of  the  holder,  except  that  the  bank  note  does 
not  hear  interest,  and  the  Exchequer  Bill  does.  You 
will  easily  perceive,  that  these  Exchequer  Bills, 
while  out,  form  a  part  of  the  National  Debt.  They 
belong  to  what  is  called  Unfunded  Debt ;  and  they 
are  sometimes  paid  off  and  taken  up,  as  a  private 
person  pays  oft*  and  takes  up  his  notes  of  hand. 
But,  sometimes,  the  Government,  like  the  private 
person,  finds  it  inconvenient  to  pay  off  these  bills  ; 
and,  in  such  cases,  it  funds  them  ;  that  is  to  say,  it 
makes  an  advantageous  offer  to  the  holder  of  them 
to  exchange  them  for  Stock ;  and  when  this  is 
done,  the  amount  of  such  Exchequer  Bills  is,  of 
course,  added  to  the  great  mass  of  the  permanent 
National  Debt ;  which,  as  you  will  perceive,  is  a 
way  of  borrowing  money  that  occasions  much  less 
talk  and  noise  than  would  be  occasioned  by  a  new 
loan.  The  loan,  this  year,  was  for  14  millions  ;  but 
then,  there  were  Exchequer  Bills  funded  to  the 
amount  of  eight  millions,  so  that  the  addition  to  the 
permanent  or  funded  Debt,  has,  in  fact,  in  this  one 
year,  been  22  millions. 

1  have  just  said,  that  when  the  Government  finds 
it  inconvenient  to  pay  off  and  take  up  Exchequer 
Bills,  it  makes  an  advantageous  offer  to  the  holders 
of  them,  by  which  these  holders  are  induced  to  give 
them  up,  and  to  take  Funds  or  Stock,  in  lieu  of 
them.  The  Bills  are  brought  by  the  holders  to  a  cer- 
tain place,  called  the  Exchequer  Bill  Office,  where 
they  are  received,  and  where  the  voucher  is  given 
which  .procures  the  holder  stock  in  exchange  for 
them.  Upon  these  occasions,  there  is  generally  a 
great  struggle  of  the  Bill-holders,  to  get  first  into 
the  office  ;  because,  when  the  quantity  of  Bills  to  be 
funded  has  been  presented  and  received,  all  the 
rest  must,  for  the  present,  at  any  rate,  still  remain 


120  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

with  the  holders  ;  and,  as  there  is  an  advantage  in 
getting  them  funded,  it  is  evident  enough,  that  there 
must  always  be  an  anxious  rivalship  in  pursuit  of 
that  object. 

Upon  an  occasion  of  this  sort,  in  the  month  of 
March  last,  ABRAHAM  GOLDSMIDT  attended,  amongst 
others,  with  a  view  of  getting  into  the  Exchequer 
Bill  Office  ;  and,  being  unable  to  get  in  at  the.  com- 
mon door,  so  early  as  some  others,  he  went  to  a  pas- 
sage leading  to  another  part  of  the  office,  where  he 
met  Sir  JOHN  PETER,  one  of  the  Paymasters,  or  per- 
sons who  conduct  the  business  of  the  office.  "  To 
this  person,  he  delivered  his  pocket-book,  contain- 
ing Exchequer  Bills  to  the  amount  of  350,000 
pounds,  and  then  went  away.  Sir  JOHN  PETER 
carried  in  the  book  and  the  bills  ;  and,  in  conse- 
quence of  this,  GOLDSMIDT'S  bills  were  funded  ; 
while  the  bills  of  other  persons,  who  had  attended 
from  the  earliest  hour,  and  had  got  in  amongst  the 
very  first,  and  whose  bills  were  actually  received, 
had  their  bills  returned  without  being  funded."  It 
appears  also,  from  the  Report,  that,  upon  a  previous 
day,  this  GOLDSMIDT,  with  a  few  others,  had  found 
out  and  used  the  means  of  getting  into  the  Office 
before  the  door  was  opened  to  the  public.  The 
Committee  state,  that  the  same  Paymaster,  "  Sir 
JOHN  PETER,  according  to  an  arrangement  previ- 
ously made,  did,  on  the  first  day  of  funding,  before 
the  doors  were  open  to  the  public,  take  into  the  of- 
fice with  him,  Mr.  GOLDSMIDT,  Mr.  SUTTON,  and 
Mr.  GILLMAN,  as  appears  from  the  evidence  of  Mr. 
Gillman  and  Mr.  Sutton.  The  other  Paymaster  in 
attendance,  Mr.  PLANTA,  says  that  he  found  those 
gentlemen  in  the  Board-Room  upon  his  arrival  at 
the  office  ;  that  he  knew  it  to  be  a  great  improprie- 
ty ;  that  he  expressed  indignation  at  the  proceed- 
ing, and  ordered  the  doors  to  be  immediately  thrown 
open  to  the  public.  The  names,  however,  of  the 
gentlemen  so  introduced,  stand  amongst  the  very 
first  on  the  books  of  that  day"  The  Committee 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  121 

reprobate  these  proceedings,  as  partial,  unjust,  and 
foul ;  and  recommend  means  for  preventing  the  like 
in  future. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  this  is  quite  enough  to  enable 
you  to  judge  of  the  real  character  of  GOLDSMIDT, 
who  is  so  extolled  by  our  courtly  news-writers,  who 
have,  doubtless,  their  reasons  for  what  they  do  ;  you 
will,  from  these  facts  alone,  facts  which  cannot  be 
denied,  be  able  to  judge,  whether  this  man  is  de- 
serving of  the  character,  which,  with  so  much  in- 
dustry, is  given  him  ;  whether  he  was  that  kind,  be- 
nevolent, disinterested,  generous,  and  noble-minded 
man,  which  he  has  been  represented  to  be ;  or,  whe- 
ther, with  all  his  outward  show  of  liberality  and  ge- 
nerosity, he  was,  as  to  his  essential  practices,  still  a 
money-loving,  a  money-amassing  Jew,  and  nothing 
more;  and  if  any  additional  proof  of  this  were 
wanting,  what  need  we  but  the  simple  fact  of  his 
having  killed  himself,  because  lie  was  losing  a  part 
of  his  immense  wealth  ?  a  truly  Jew-like  motive  for 
the  commission  of  an  act — at  which  human  nature 
shudders.  Gentlemen,  how  much  more  to  be  re- 
spected, and  to  be  pitied,  are  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  your  industrious  and  honest  neighbours,  who  had 
their  all  snatched  from  them  in  a  moment,  and  who, 
after  a  life  of  labour  and  of  abstinence,  saw  them- 
selves deprived  of  the  means  of  buying  a  dinner; 
and  that,  too,  observe,  without  any  fault  of  theirs, 
without  any  greedy  speculation,  any  desire  on  their 
part  to  gain  by  overreaching  their  neighbours,  or  to 
possess  any  thing  which  was  not  the  fair  fruit  of 
their  labour  ?  What  value  are  we  to  set  upon  the 
princely  feasts  of  a  man,  who  could  creep  in  at  a 
back  door  to  get  the  preference  in  funding  Exche- 
quer Bills  ?  What  value  are  we  to  set  upon  friend- 
ship, such  as  he  would,  doubtless,  entertain  for  such 
men  as  Sir  JOHN  PETER?  And,  as  to  his  charities ; 
as  to  what  he  used  to  give  to  the  miserable  part  of 
our  countrymen,  under  the  name  of  charities,  it  is 
very  probable,  that  the  whole  of  what  he  bestowed 
11 


122  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

in  this  way  in  the  course  of  his  life,  did  not  amount 
to  half  so  much  as  the  sum  that  he  gained  in  conse- 
quence of  his  proceeding  above-noticed  with  Sir 
JOHN  PETER. 

Gentlemen,  the  reasons  why  he  has  been  so  much 
praised  by  many  of  our  news-writers  would  amuse 
you ;  and  it  would  also  entertain  you  to  learn  the 
real  caus?  of  the  fine  benevolent  Jewish  characters, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  some  of  our  modern 
plays  ;  if,  indeed,  a  feeling  of  shame  for  your  coun- 
try did  not  overpower  your  propensity  to  laugh  at 
these  offerings  of  literary  venality  at  the  shrine  of 
Mammon.  But,  having  now  bestowed  quite  as  much 
time  as  it  merited  in  remarks  upon  the  character  of 
the  departed  Jew,  but  which  remarks  were  demanded 
by  truth,  we  will  now  proceed  to  those  matters,  con- 
nected with  his  death,  which  are  of  much  greater 
consequence  to  us,  and  a  clear  understanding  of 
which  will  be  found  to  be  greatly  useful  in  the  course 
of  the  remainder  of  our  inquiries.  Indeed,  these 
matters  not  only  relate  to  our  subject,  but  they  are 
strongly  illustrative  of  some  of  the  most  important 
parts  of  it. 

The  cause  of  GOLDSMIDT'S  committing  the  act  of 
self-murder  is  stated  as  follows  :  "  The  cause  of  this 
rash  act  it  is  not  difficult  to  assign : — Mr.  Goldsmidt 
was  a  joint  contractor  for  the  late  loan  of  14  mil- 
lions with  the  house  of  Sir  Francis  Baring,  and. 
taking  the  largest  probable  range  that  he  had  dealt 
amongst  his  friends  one  half  of  the  sum  allotted  to 
him,  the  loss  sustained  by  the  remainder,  at  the  rate 
of  65/.  per  thousand,  which  was  the  price  of  Thurs- 
day, was  more  than  any  individual  fortune  could  be 
expected  to  sustain.  Ever  since  the  decline  of  Om- 
nium from  par,  Mr.  Goldsmidt's  spirits  were  pro- 
gressively drooping ;  but  when  it  reached  5  and  6 
per  cent,  discount,  without  the  probability  of  reco- 
vering, the  unfortunate  gentleman  appeared  evi- 
dently restless  in  his  disposition,  and  disordered  in 
his  mind ;  and,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe,  not 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  123 

finding  that  cheerful  assistance  amongst  his  monied 
friends  which  he  had  experienced  in  happier  times, 
he  was  unable  to  bear  up  against  the  pressure  of  his 
misfortunes ;  and  hence  was  driven  to  terminate  a 
life  which  till  then  had  never  been  chequered  by 
misfortune.  The  moment  intelligence  of  the  dis- 
tressing event  reached  the  city,  which  was  about  the 
period  of  the  opening  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  the 
Funds  suddenly  felt  the  effects,  and  the  Three  per 
Cent.  Stock  fell  in  a  few  minutes  from  66£  to  63 -J-: 
Omnium  declined  from  about  6}  to  10J-  discount, 
and  then  remained  steady  at  that  price  for  some 
time."*  What  to  do  with  all  these  cant  words  one 
hardly  knows  ;  but,  taking  along  with  us  what  we 
have  before  seen,  we  shall  be  able,  with  a  little  ex- 
planation, to  understand  them. 

In  Letter  II.  page  34,  and  onwards,  we  saw  some- 
thing of  the  manner  in  which  Loans  are  made  to 
the  government ;  but  we  must  here  speak  of  the 
transaction  a  little  more  in  particulars.  The  Loan- 
Maker  bargains  with  the  Minister  to  lend  so  many 
millions  of  money,  upon  condition  of  receiving  so 
much  Stock,  and  we  have  seen  what  Stock  means. 
But,  this  Stock  (as  will  be  seen  in  Letter  II.  page 
34,)  is  of  several  sorts :  4  per  cents.,  3  per  cents., 
and  so  on.  And  the  Loan-Maker  generally  agrees 
to  take  some  of  each  sort.  As  soon  as  the  Loan 
is  made,  he  begins  to  sell  his  Stock,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  page  38,  to  such  people  as  our  good  neigh- 
bour, FARMER  GREENHORN  ;  but  when  he  sells  it, 
all  the  sorts  of  it  are  put  together,  and  hence  it 
is  called  OMNIUM,  that  being  a  Latin  word,  meaning 

THE    WHOLE     TOGETHER,    Or     ALL     TOGETHER.        When 

the  Omnium  will  sell  for  more  than  has  been  given 
for  it,  it  is  said  to  be  at  a  premium  ;  and  when  it 
will  not  sell  for  so  much  as  has  been  given  for  it,  it 
is  said  to  be  at  a  discount,  that  word  meaning,  to 
count  back,  or  to  refund  ;  so  that,  in  these  transac- 

*  TIMES  Newspaper,  Sept.  29. 


124  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

tions,  to  sell  at  a  premium  means  to  gain  by  the 
sale,  and  to  sell  at  a  discount  means  to  lose  by  the 
sale ;  premium  means  gain,  and  discount  means  loss. 

Applying  this  to  what  we  have  before  seen  re- 
specting the  cause  of  the  death  of  GOLDSMIDT,  it 
will  be  perceived,  that  he  was  losing  6  per  cent.,  or 
6  pounds  in  the  hundred,  upon  his  part  of  so  im- 
mense a  transaction  as  that  of  a  Loan  of  14  mil- 
lions. It  is  said,  you  will  observe,  that  he  and  the 
BARINGS  took  the  loan  between  them  ;  and  it  is  sup- 
posed, that  a  great  part  of  his  share  remained  un- 
sold, at  the  time  when  the  fall  in  the  price  took 
place.  His  loss,  if  the  price  did  not  mend,  would, 
of  course,  be  immense  ;  and,  it  appears,  that  the 
thought  of  such  a  loss  was  more  than  his  mind 
could  bear  ;  which  latter  is  by  no  means  wonderful, 
seeing  that  his  soul  was  set  upon  gain  ;  that  all  his 
views  and  notions  of  happiness  centered  in  wealth. 
The  lover,  whose  passion  is  too  strong  for  his  rea- 
son, destroys  himself,  because  the  object  of  that 
passion  is  dearer  to  him  than  life.  GOLDSMIDT  de- 
stroys himself,  because  wealth  is  dearer  to  him  than 
life.  And  yet,  we  are  to  be  told  of  the  princely 
munificence  of  this  man  !  Never  was  there  a  nation 
so  much  insulted  as  this  ! 

In  most  cases  there  is  a  considerable  gain  made 
by  LOAN-MAKERS,  who  have,  indeed,  in  many  cases, 
become  so  rich  by  these  transactions  as  to  be  ena- 
bled to  surpass  in  expenses  the  gentry  and  the  nobi- 
lity of  the  kingdom,  which,  as  we  shall  by-and-by 
see,  is  one  of  the  great  evils  of  the  National  Debt. 
How  it  has  happened,  that  so  great  a  loss  has  hi- 
therto been  experienced  upon  the  present  loan,  it 
would  be  very  difficult,  perhaps,  for  any  one  to  tell. 
It  has  been  asserted,  in  the  public  prints,  that  there 
was  a  combination  against  the  Loan-Makers ;  but 
this  is  perfect  nonsense  ;  for  all  Stocks  fell  at  the 
same  time  ;  and  what  a  fine  state  must  that  thing, 
called  PUBLIC  CREDIT,  be  in,  if  any  combination  of 
individuals  can  injure  it. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  125 

The  progress  of  the  fall  in  the  price  of  Stocks, 
and  particularly  of  the  Omnium,  upon  this  occasion, 
is  very  curious  ;  and,  it  will  be  of  great  use  to  us  to 
take  a  look  back  into  the  public  prints,  and  see  the 
attempts  there  made  to  keep  up  the  prices ;  attempts 
which  come  very  fairly  under  the  denomination  of 
puffing.  These  attempts  are  worthy  of  the  greatest 
attention  ;  for,  trifling  and  even  stupid  as  they  ap- 
pear, and  as  they  are  in  themselves,  they  will,  if  I 
mistake  not,  be  hereafter  referred  to,  as  being  amongst 
the  most  significant  signs  of  the  times. 

These  attempts  began  with  a  paragraph,  inserted  in 
all  the  daily  news-papers,  stating  the  amount  of  the 
fortune  of  Sir  FRANCIS  BARING'S  family,  who,  it  will 
be  recollected,  were  now  become  the  part  owners  of 
the  OMNIUM  along  with  GOLDSMIDT.  The  paragraph, 
of  the  llth  of  September,  was  as  follows:  "Yes- 
terday morning,  at  one  o'clock,  died,  at  his  house  at 
Leigh,  Sir  Francis  Baring,  bart,  in  his  74th  year. 
He  was  physically  exhausted,  but  his  mind  remained 
unsubdued  by  age  or  infirmity  to  the  last  breath. 
His  bed  was  surrounded  by  nine  out  of  ten,  the  num- 
ber of  his  sons  and  daughters,  all  of  whom  he  has 
lived  to  see  established  in  splendid  independence. 
Three  of  his  sons  carry  on  the  great  commercial 
house,  and  which,  by  his  superior  talents  and  inte- 
grity, he  carried  to  so  great  a  height  of  respect — 
and  the  other  two  sons  are  returned  from,  India 
with  fortunes.  His  five  daughters  are  all  most 
happily  married,  and  in  addition  to  all  this,  it  is  sup- 
posed he  has  left  freehold  estates  to  the  amount  of 
half  a  million.  Such  has  been  the  result  of  the 
honourable  life  of  this  English  Merchant." 

On  the  17th  of  September,  the  following  was  pub- 
lished r  "  Stocks  experienced  this  morning  a  consi- 
derable depression :  Omnium  was  at  5^-  discount. 
The  death  of  Sir  Francis  Baring  is  said  to  have 
been  the  chief  cause  of  it." 

On  the  19th :  "  The  sudden  and  rapid  decline  of 
the  Stocks  merits,  it  may  be  supposed,  some  notice. 
11* 


126  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Consols,  which  began  yesterday  at  66f ,  closed  at 
65^- ;  and  Omnium  left  off  at  6  J-  discount.  Various 
causes  were  assigned  for  this  effect,  (a  descent  upon 
Heligoland,  a  subsidy  to  Russia,)  all  equally  im- 
probable. We  can  do  no  more  at  present  than  state 
the  fact,  though  we  strongly  suspect  that  we  know 
the  cause" 

On  the  20th:  c;  Stocks  were  better  this  morning; 
and  the  attempts  to  continue  the  depression  of  the 
Funds  are  likely  to  be  defeated,  as  they  ought  to  be" 

On  the  22nd:  "Yesterday  being  a  holiday,  no 
business  was  publicly  transacted  in  tne  Funds,  but 
several  private  bargains  were  made  at  an  advanced 
price.  Consols  were  done  at  662"  which  is  a  material 
rise.  There  is  reason  to  hope  that  a  few  days  will 
dispel  the  alarm  which  was  raised  and  propagated 
beyond  what  any  just  cause  could  warrant,  by  per- 
sons desirous  of  fishing  in  troubled  waters  ;  by 
certain  writers,  eager  to  convert  public  confusion 
to  the  promotion  of  their  political  views,  and  by 
certain  jobbers,  anxious  to  make  it  subservient  to 
their  pecuniary  interests.  The  erroneous  idea,  so 
industriously  circulated  by  certain  individuals,  that 
there  is  a  depreciation  of  the  Bank  currency,  has 
undoubtedly  contributed,  in  some  degree  with  other 
circumstances  of  pressure,  to  produce  the  late  de- 
pression in  the  funds." 

Now,  it  must  be  observed,  that  these  paragraphs 
were  circular  /  that  is  to  say,  they  went  through 
all  the  daily  news-papers,  or,  at  least,  nearly  all  of 
them ;  and,  for  aught  I  know  to  the  contrary,  through 
the  weekly  news  -papers  too ;  so  that,  there  is  not 
the  smallest  doubt  of  the  puffing  having  been  carried 
on  at  the  instigation  of  some  interested  party. 

But,  Gentlemen,  what  a  state,  I  again  ask,  must 
that  thing  called  PUBLIC  CREDIT,  be  in,  if  it  can  be 
affected  in  this  way  ?  First  Sir  FRANCIS  BARING'S 
death  causes  the  Funds  to  fall,  and  the  fall  in  the 
Funds  causes  the  death  of  GOLDSMIDT,  and  then  the 
death  of  GOLDSMIDT  causes  the  Funds  to  fall  lower 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  127 

still!  What  is  all  this  talk  about  combinations; 
about  attempts  to  continue  the  depression ;  about  an 
alarm  beyond  any  just  cause  ;  about  the  Funds  being 
depressed  by  persons  desirous  of  fishing  in  troubled 
waters,  by  certain  writers  eager  for  public  confusion  ; 
by  certain  jobbers  anxious  to  promote  their  own  in- 
terest ;  by  certain  individuals  who  have  insidiously 
circulated  erroneous  ideas  about  the  depreciation  of 
Bank  notes  ?  What  is  all  this  talk  ?  What  does 
all  this  mean  ?  Is  it  come  to  this  at  last,  that  this 
PUBLIC  CREDIT,  which  was  to  defend  us  against  all 
the  warlike  operations  of  France  ;  is  it  come  to  this, 
that  this  PUBLIC  CREDIT,  this  defence  of  the  country, 
is  to  be  destroyed,  or,  at  least,  materially  affected,  by 
the  tricks  of  money-Jobbers,  the  opinions  (and  the 
erroneous  opinions  too)  of  political  writers,  or  by 
the  death  of  a  Jew  ?  If  this  be  the  case,  let  those 
who  have  what  they  call  money  in  the  Funds  ;  let 
the  GRIZZLE  GREENHORNS  look  to  themselves. 

At  the  peace  of  Amiens,  when  we  reminded  PITT 
and  his  associates  of  the  promise  they  had  made  us, 
never  to  make  peace  without  obtaining  "  indemnity 
for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future,"  and,  when 
we  proved  to  them,  that,  while  they  acknowledged 
that  they  had  obtained  no  indemnity  for  the  past, 
they  had  left  us  more  insecure  than  ever  for  the  fu- 
ture :  when  we  pointed  out  to  them  the  consequences 
of  their  war,  which  had  put  into  the  hands  of  France  so 
many  countries,  end  so  much  of  maritime  means ;  and 
of  their  peace,  which  had  left  all  these  terrible  means 
in  her  hands  :  when  we  pointed  out  this  to  them,  what 
was  their  answer?  Why  this:  that,  though  France 
had  acquired  a  great  extent  of  territory,  her  acqui- 
sitions in  point  of  strength  did  not  surpass  ours, 
which  consisted  of  an  immense  mass  of  CAPITAL, 
CREDIT,  and  CONFIDENCE  ;  the  changes  upon  which 
words  were  rung  over  and  over  again,  till  the  speech 
became  full  as  enlivening  and  instructive  as  a  peel  of 
the  three  bells  of  Botley  Church.  But  what  becomes 
of  these  fine  things,  if  the  scribbling  of  a  news-paper 


128  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

writer,  or  of  a  pamphleteer,  or  if  the  sudden  death 
of  a  Jew,  is  capable  of  so  materially  affecting  them  ? 
What,  in  that  case,  becomes  of  that  Capital,  Credit, 
and  Confidence,  which  were  to  counterbalance  all 
the  acquisitions  of  France,  and  were  to  prove  a 
never-falling  defence  to  England  ?  True,  said  the 
adherents  of  PITT,  who  wished  still  to  find  some- 
thing to  say,  by  way  of  apology,  for  his  ruinous 
measures,  "  true,"  said  they,  "  France  has  made 
conquests ;  she  has  gained  sea-ports  ;  she  has  ac- 
quired and  now  quietly  possesses,  the  means  of  rear- 
ing a  navy  ;  but  look  at  the  immense  CAPITAL  of 
England :  look  at  her  CREDIT  ;  look  at  the  CONFI- 
DENCE which  she  possesses ;  look  at  these  pillars  of 
national  strength.7'  It  was  not  easy  to  see,  however 
long  one  looked,  that  these  things  were  pillars  of 
national  strength  ;  but,  if  they  were  ;  if  they  were 
the  pillars  upon  which  this  nation  was  to  depend, 
what  are  we  to  think  of  our  situation,  when  we  are 
told,  as  we  are  in  the  above-cited  publications,  and, 
indeed,  as  we  are  told  every  day,  that  the  Funds, 
which  are  said  to  be  the  barometer  of  national  CRE- 
DIT, can  be,  nay,  have  been,  and  still  are,  lowered 
in  their  value  by  such  trifling  things  as  the  erroneous 
opinion  of  a  writer  on  politics,  or  the  death  of  a  Mer- 
chant or  a  Jew  ?  If  what  we  have  been  told  about 
the  importance  of  CREDIT  be  true  ;  if  it  be  our  de- 
fence against  the  enemy,  what  must  our  situation  be, 
if  what  we  are  now  told  be  true,  namely,  that  this 
CREDIT  has  been  shaken  by  such  contemptible  means  ? 
PITT  and  his  associates  told  us,  that  CAPITAL,  CRE- 
DIT, and  CONFIDENCE;  which  is  using  three  words 
instead  of  one,  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  sound  ; 
they  told  us  that  these  were  the  pillars  of  the  na- 
tion ;  and,  as  we  have  seen  above,  our  news-papers 
now  tell  us,  that  Sir  FRANCIS  BARING  and  GOLDSMIDT 
were  the  pillars  of  our  CREDIT  ;  so  that,  at  last,  we 
come  to  this  comfortable  conclusion — that  the  de- 
fence and  preservation  of  the  country  depended  upon 
Sir  FRANICS  BARING  and  GOLDSMIDT,  one  of  whom 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  129 

has  died,  and  the  other  shot  himself,  within  the  last 
three  weeks !  And  this  is  the  effect,  is  it,  of  the 
PITT  system  of  what  is  called  Public  Credit  ? 

If  what  we  are  now  told  be  true,  what  security 
have  we,  that  things  will  stop  where  they  are  ? 
What  reason  have  we  to  conclude,  or  to  suppose, 
that  the  same  causes  will  not  continue  to  operate, 
'till  the  whole  of  the  Funds  are  annihilated  ;  that 
is  to  say,  until  nobody  will  give  any  thing  at  all  for 
any  sort  of  the  Stock  ?  We  are  told,  that  the  fall 
which  has  already  taken  place,  has,  in  part,  been  the 
consequence  of  combinations  of  individuals,  which 
must  mean,  combinations  not  to  purchase  ;  and  who 
is  to  put  an  end  to  such  combinations  ?  Who  is  to 
prevent  the  force  of  them  from  increasing?  Then, 
again,  we  are  told,  that  the  fall  has  partly  been  pro- 
duced by  jobbers  intent  upon  their  own  interests  ; 
and  who,  let  me  ask,  is  to  alter  the  nature  of  these 
jobbers  ;  who  can  say,  or  even  guess,  when  these  in- 
terested jobbers  will  be  pleased  to  desist  from  their 
selfish  and  mischievous  practices  ?  If  the  causes  of 
the  fall  be  such  as  have  been  stated  to  the  public  in 
the  above-cited  and  other  publications,  who  will 
pretend  to  say  when  or  where,  the  fall  will  stop  ? 
And  I  should  be  very  glad  to  hear  any  reason,  why, 
if  those  alleged  causes  be  founded  in  truth,  the 
Funds  should  not  continue  to  fall,  till  they  are  not 
worth  owning  ;  till  it  is  not  worth  GRIZZLE  GREEN- 
HORN'S while  to  have  her  name  written  in  the  Great 
Book. 

We  here  see,  that  these  boasted  friends  of  their 
country  ;  these  men  of  such  high-flying  loyalty  ;  these 
writers  who  accuse  of  Jacobinism  all  those  who 
cannot  believe,  and  who  will  not  say,  that  the  Paper- 
money  is  as  good,  if  not  better,  than  Gold  and  Sil- 
ver ;  we  here  see,  that  these  boasted  friends  of  their 
country,  who,  apparently,  would  eat  Buonaparte 
raw,  if  they  could  get  at  him  ;  we  here  see  these 
outrageously-loyal  writers  proclaiming  to  that  same 
Buonaparte  what  must  delight  him  more  than  al- 


130  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

most  any  thing  that  he  could  hear,  namely,  that  such 
is  the  state  of  our  public  credit,  such  the  state  of  our 
pecuniary  resources,  such  the  confidence  in  our  funds, 
such  the  confidence  in  the  security  of  our  government- 
bonds,  that  this  confidence  is  shaken  by  a  combina- 
tion of  jobbers,  or  the  death  of  a  Jew.  How  much 
abuse  has  been,  at  various  times,  heaped  upon  those, 
who  have  expressed  their  doubts  as  to  the  durability 
of  the  Paper-money  system  !  Nay,  the  Bullion  Com- 
mittee themselves  have  been  very  grossly  abused  for 
their  Report  upon  the  subject;  by  which  Report, 
their  opponents  say,  they  have  injured  the  credit  of 
the  country.  They  are  charged  with  having  injured 
the  credit  of  this  country,  because  they  have  recom- 
mended that  the  Bank  of  England  should  pay  its 
notes  in  Gold  and  Silver.  What,  then,  are  those 
men  doing,  who  now  assert,  that  a  combination  of 
individuals  ;  that  the  tricks  of  interested  jobbers  ; 
that  the  erroneous  opinions  of  political  writers: 
what  are  the  men  doing,  who  assert,  that  these  things 
are  capable  of  causing  the  government  securities. to 
fall  in  value ;  and  who  scruple  not  to  tell  us,  that  the 
men  who  where  the  pillars  of  the  Public  Funds, 
are  dead  ?  What  are  these  writers  doing ;  and 
how  will  they  now  be  able  to  hold  up  their  heads 
and  complain  of  the  endeavours  of  others  to  destroy 
what  they  call  public  credit,  which,  if  it  admit  of  de- 
struction by  the  means  of  the  pen,  must  assuredly 
fall  for  ever  under  the  pens  of  these  writers  ? 

If  what  these  writers  say  be  true  ;  if  the  stocks  are 
to  be  lowered  in  value  by  combinations  of  individuals, 
by  the  errors  of  writers,  by  the  reports  of  commit- 
tees, or  by  the  death  of  a  Jew  ;  if  this  be  true,  can  it 
be  thought,  that  people  will  long  be  disposed  to  be- 
come proprietors  of  stock  ?  Can  it  be  thought,  that 
they  will,  like  our  neighbour  GREENHORN,  put  their 
money  in  the  Funds  ?  Can  it  be  expected,  that  fa- 
thers and  mothers  will  make  provision  for  their  child- 
ren, or  their  grand-children,  by  purchasing  stock, 
liable  to  be  lowered  in  value  by  such  causes  ?  Nay, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD,  131 

can  it  be  expected,  that  any  man  in  his  senses,  who 
is  now  the  owner  of  stock,  will  not  dispose  of  it  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  at  almost  any  rate  ?  For,  is  it 
possible  to  regard  as  safe  property  ;  is  it  possible  to 
regard  as  any  property  at  all,  a  thing,  the  value  of 
which  may  be  lowered  ten  per  cent,  in  the  space  of 
ten  days,  and,  of  course,  which  may  be  lowered 
to  almost  nothing  ?  Is  it  possible  to  regard  as  any 
property  at  all,  a  thing,  the  value  of  which  may  be 
ilms  reduced  by  the  combinations  of  individuals,  the 
trickery  of  jobbers,  the  errors  of  political  writers, 
or  the  death  of  a  Jew,  or  of  any  other  individual,  or 
number  of  individuals  ?  Is  it  possible  to  regard 
such  a  thing  as  property  ?  Common  sense  says, 
<;  No ;"  and  yet  the  statement  of  these  causes,  a 
statement  which,  if  it  have  any  effect  at  all,  must 
tend  to  the  discredit,  and,  indeed,  to  the  destruction, 
of  the  Funds ;  this  statement  comes  from  the  pens 
of  those,  who  cry  out  JACOBIN  against  every  man  who 
ventures,  in  however  modest  a  way,  to  express  his 
doubts  of  the  solidity  of  the  Funding  System. 

These  writers,  in  their  eagerness  to  abuse  those, 
to  whom  they  impute  the  fall  of  the  Funds,  seem  to 
have  overlooked  the  conclusions  that  would  natu- 
rally be  drawn  from  their  premises,  else  they  would 
have  perceived  what  a  dangerous  thing  it  was  to  de- 
clare to  our  powerful  and  sharp-sighted  enemy  that 
a  combination  of  individuals  was  capable  of  shaking 
our  Funds.  That  enemy  is,  by  these  same  writers, 
represented  as  being  all-powerful  by  his  intrigues  in 
other  countries ;  and,  is  it  too  much  to  suppose,  that 
it  might  be  possible  for  him  to  find  the  means  of 
forming  combinations  against  the  Funds  in  England? 
If  combinations  of  individuals  can  pull  down  the 
value  of  our  government  securities,  is  it  to  be  be- 
lieved, that  our  enemy  will  not  be  disposed,  and  that 
he  will  not  endeavour  to  form  such  combinations  1 
And,  if  we  are  asked,  where  he  will  find  individuals 
so  base,  have  not  these  writers  pointed  them  out  to 
him ;  or,  at  least,  have  they  not  told  him,  in  terms  that 


132  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

admit  not  of  misunderstanding,  that  there  are  such 
individuals  in  England,  in  London,  and  now  actually 
at  work ;  and  that  these  individuals  have  caused  the 
Funds  to  fall,  have  caused  the  government  securities 
to  lose  part  of  their  value?  Let  these  writers, 
therefore,  confess  that  these  statements  of  theirs 
have  proceeded  from  error;  or,  at  any  rate,  that  they 
are  untrue  ;  or  let  them  for  ever  hold  their  tongue 
as  to  complaints  against  those,  who  entertain  doubts 
of  the  solidity  of  the  paper-money  system. 

Here,  Gentlemen,  I  should  have  concluded  this 
already-too-long  Letter :  but  an  article  which  I  find 
in  the  public  prints  of  this  morning  (Tuesday,  2nd 
October,)  induces  me  to  add  some  observations  upon 
the  subject  of  the  remedy  or  expedient,  which  has 
been  more  than  hinted  at.  The  article  alluded  to, 
is  as  follows  :  "  The  state  of  the  Funds  was  a  little 
improved  yesterday  ;  and,  as  no  bad  consequences, 
beyond  those  of  the  first  shock,  had  arisen  from  Mr. 
Goldsmidt's  death,  it  is  hoped  that  things  will  soon 
be  restored  to  their  former  level.  The  result  of  the 
conferences  of  the  leading  Loan-holders,  with  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  the  Lords  of 
the  Treasury,  on  Saturday,  has  not  yet  been  made 
known.  Mr.  Goldsmidt's  house  continues  to  dis- 
charge, without  reserve  or  hesitation,  all  the  demands 
made  on  it.  The  account  at  the  Stock  Exchange 
was  not  settled  nor  declared  yesterday,  in  conse-  ; 
quence  of  the  attendance  of  Mr.  Nathan  Solomons, 
Mr.  Goldsmidt's  broker,  at  the  funeral,  which  took 
place,  according  to  the  Jewish  rites,  about  noon  yes- 
terday. His  body  was  placed  by  the  side  of  that  of 
his  brother  Benjamin.  Yesterday  morning  early, 
Mr.  Perceval  came  to  town  from  his  house  at 
Ealing,  and  soon  after  sent  off  letters  to  the  Go- 
vernor and  Deputy-Governor  of  the  Bank,  Mr.  Wish, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Commissioners  of  Excise,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Ordnance,  and  a  number  of  other 
official  Gentlemen  ;  they  all  attended  Mr.  Perceval, 
and  he  was  with  them  during  the  whole  of  the  day." 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  133 

These  conferences  will  not,  I  trust,  as  some  per- 
sons appear  to  suppose,  lead  to  any  application  of 
the  public  money,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  taxes,  to  the 
assisting,  as  it  is  called,  of  these  Loan-holders. 
The  Loan-holders,  or  Loan-makers,  have  never  been 
known  to  return  to  the  people  any  part  of  the  im- 
mense profits,  which  they,  from  time  to  time,  have 
made  upon  their  loaning  transactions.  We  see,  from 
one  of  the  above-quoted  passages,  that  Sir  FRANCIS 
BARING  has  gained  enough  to  lay  out  half  a  million 
of  money  in  freehold  estates.  Great  part  of  this 
was,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  gained  by  the  many 
loans  to  Government,  in  which  he  has  been  at  differ- 
ent times  concerned.  Well  then,  if  these  profits, 
these  immense  gains,  be  considered  as  fairly  belong- 
ing to  him,  or  his  heirs  and  successors  ;  and,  if  we 
view  the  not  less  immense  gains  of  GOLDSMIDT  in  the 
same  light ;  if  the  gains  be  theirs,  ought  not  the  loss 
to  be  theirs  also  ?  Upon  any  other  principle,  what  a 
sort  of  bargain  would  a  government  loan  be  ?  A 
bargain,  where  all  the  chance  of  gain  would  be  on 
one  side,  and  all  the  chance  of  loss  on  the  other.  If 
the  loan-maker  gained,  well ;  but  if  he  lost,  the 
people  must  make  good  his  loss.  Is  this  the  way 
that  dealings  take  place  between  man  and  man  ?  Is 
there  any  one  of  you,  Gentlemen,  who  would  sell  a 
load  of  wheat  to  a  miller,  leaving  him  the  chance 
of  gaining  by  it,  and,  if  he  happened  to  lose  by  it, 
would  give  him  back  again  the  amount  of  his  loss? 
Oh,  no  !  You  would  keep  the  whole  of  the  price  of 
your  wheat,  and  leave  the  miller  to  console  himself 
in  counting  his  gains  upon  other  occasions. 

But  if,  contrary  to  my  wish  and  expectation, 
"  relief"  as  it  is  called,  were  to  be  given  to  those 
persons^  in  what  way  could  it  be  done?  The  loan 
is  made  and  ratified  in  virtue  of  an  ACT  OF  PARLIA- 
MENT. There  can  be  no  alteration  made  in  the  bar- 
gam  ;  there  can  be  no  change  in  the  terms  of  pay- 
ment ;  there  can  be  no  abatement  in  the  demands  of 
the  Government,  without  another  ACT  OP  PARLIA- 
12 


134  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

MENT,  previously  passed. — Those  who  made  the  loan 
must  pay  the  14  millions  into  the  King's  Exchequer, 
let  what  will  be  their  loss  upon  the  transaction,  un- 
less indeed,  the  whole  of  their  property,  real  and 
personal,  be  insufficient  for  the  purpose  ;  and,  in 
that  case,  the  people  have  a  right  to  expect,  that  the 
Government  will  take  care  to  hold  back  from  the 
loan-makers,  or  to  recover  from  them,  so  much  of  the 
new  Stock  as  will  not  leave  the  loan-makers  a  far- 
thing in  the  people's  debt. 

During  PITT'S  Anti-jacobin  War,  which,  as  you 
will  bear  in  mind,  was  to  succeed  by  producing  the 
destruction  of  the  paper-money  in  France  !  during 
that  war,  which  was  to  diminish  the  power  of 
France,  and  to  restore  the  Bourbons,  by  the  means 
of  ruin  to  the  French  finances ;  during  that  famous 
war,  which  was  to  plunge,  and  which,  as  PITT  told 
us.  did  plunge,  France  "into  the  very  gulph  of 
Bankruptcy;"  during  that  renowned  war,  there  was 
what  was  called  a  "LOYALTY  LOAN."  People 
were  invited,  in  the  name  of  Loyally,  to  come  for- 
ward and  lend  their  money  to  the  Government,  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  Anti-jacobin  war 
with  vigour ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  no  very  unin- 
telligible hints  were  given,  in  some  of  the  public 
prints,  that  those  who  had  it  in  their  power  to  lend, 
and  did  not  lend,  upon  this  occasion,  were  deficient 
in  point  of  loyalty  ;  an  imputation  not  very  plea- 
sant at  any  time,  and,  at  the  time  to  which  we  are 
referring,  singularly  inconvenient.  The  LOYALTY 
LOAN  was  accomplished  ;  but,  owing  to  some  cause 
or  other,  it  did  not  prove  to  be  a  profitable  concern 
for  the  lenders;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  present 
loan,  as  far  as  it  has  gone,  the  loan  fell  to  a  dis- 
count, and  a  loss  was  sustained  upon  it.  Such  loss, 
one  might  have  expected,  would  have  been  not  only 
contentedly,  but  gladly  sustained,  as  a  sacrifice  upon 
the  altar  of  loyalty ;  and  this,  it  was  said  by  PITT, 
would  have  been  the  case,  but  that  he  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  ministry,  did  not  think  it  wise  to  suffer 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  135 

loyalty  so  disinterested  to  experience  any  loss.  An 
act,  therefore,  was  passed  for  making  good  to  the 
lenders  whatever  they  would  otherwise  have  lost  by 
their  ardent  affection  for  their  King  and  country, 
and  loyalty  was  thus  prevented  from  costing  them 
anything. 

The  case,  however,  of  these  loyal  and  devoted 
persons  was  somewhat  different  from  that  of  the 
makers  of  the  present  loan.  The  Loyalty  Loan 
men  had  never  gained  any  thing  by  loan-making. 
They  had  not  got  their  half  million's  worths  of  free- 
holds and  their  palace-like  mansions.  They  had 
made  a  bargain,  and  they  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to 
have  been  held  to  that  bargain  ;  because,  if  there 
had  been  a  gain  instead  of  a  loss,  they  would  have 
put  that  gain  in  their  pocket,  and  would,  doubtless, 
have  looked  upon  it  as  doubly  blessed,  being  the 
profits  of  trade  and  of  loyalty  too  ;  and  further,  be- 
cause they  had  put  their  names  down  upon  a  list, 
which  was  to  hold  them  forth  to  the  world  as  men 
ready  to  make  sacrifices  for  their  King  and  country, 
in  contradistinction  to  those,  whose  names  were  not 
put  upon  the  list.  But  still,  though  nothing,  in  my 
opinion,  can  ever  fully  reconcile  to  principles  of  jus- 
tice, the  compensating  of  these  people  for  their  losses 
by  that  loan,  there  is  a  great  difference  between  that 
case,  and  the  case  of  the  present  loan-makers  or 
holders,  who  have  no  claim  whatever  to  any  com- 
pensation at  all,  or  to  any  relief,  or  to  the  adoption 
of  any  measure,  that  shall  cost  the  people  one  single 
shilling.  If  they  lose  by  this  loan,  they  have  gained 
by  other  loans.  If  they  cannot  pay  without  the  sale 
of  their  goods  and  chattels,  why  should  not  their 
goods  and  chattels  be  sold,  as  well  as  the  goods  and 
chattels  of  those,  who,  out  of  pure  loyalty,  have  set 
up  papers  for  the  purpose  of  writing  me  down,  and 
whose  names  I  have  never  once  mentioned,  on 
whose  papers  I  have  never  set  my  eyes,  and  who 
have  killed  themselves  in  their  foolish  attempts  to 
wound  me  ?  Why  should  not  the  loan-makers,  if 


136  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

they  cannot  make  good  their  bargain,  have  their 
goods  and  chattels  sold,  us  well  as  these  loyalty- 
writers  ?  I  am,  however,  reasoning  here,  against  an 
unfounded  surmise  ;  for  it  appears  from  the  above 
quoted  publications,  that  the  family  of  BARING  is 
very  rich  and  in  perfect  credit,  and  that  the  concerns 
of  GOLDSMIDT  are  in  a  flourishing  way,  seeing  that 
his  house  is  able  to  meet  all  the  demands  upon  it,  of 
every  sort,  without  the  least  delay  or  hesitation. 
This  being  the  case,  there  can  be  no  need  of  any 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  who 
will  doubtless  see,  that  the  bargain  is  fulfilled  agree- 
ably to  the  terms.  • 

I  have  now  done  with  this  accidental  occurrence, 
the  notice  of  which  so  much  at  length,  forms  a  Di- 
gression from  the  regular  line  of  our  progress,  but 
which,  as  we  shall  see  by-and-by,  will  have  alforded 
us  practical  knowledge,  of  great  use  in  our  future 
inquiries. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  Friend, 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  6th  Sept.  1810. 


LETTER  X. 


"They"  (the  French  Revolutionists)  "forget  that,  in  England,  not  one 
shilling  of  Paper  Money  of  any  description  is  received  but  of  choice, 
that  the  whole  has  had  its  origin  in  cash,  actually  deposited  ;  and  that 
it  is  convertible,  at  pleasure,  in  an  instant,  and  without  the  smallest 
loss,  into  cash  again.  Our  Paper  is  of  value  in  commerce,  because  in 
law  it  is  of  none.  It  is  powerful  on  Change,  because  in  Westminster-hall 
it  is  impotent.  In  payment  of  a  debt  of  twenty  shillings,  a  creditor  may 
refuse  all  the  paper  of  the  Bank  of  England.  Nor  is  there  among  us  a 
single  public  security,  of  any  quality  or  nature  whatsoever,  that  is  en- 
forced by  authority.  In  fact,  it  might  be  easily  shown,  that  our  paper 
wealth,  instead  of  lessening  the  real  coin,  has  a  tendency  to  increase  it.  In- 
stead of  being  a  substitute  for  money,  it  only  facilitates  its  entry,  its  exit, 
and  its  circulation;  that  it  is  the  symbol  of  prosperity,  and  not  the  badge 
of  distress.  Never  was  a  scarcity  of  cash,  and  an  exuberance  of  paper,  a 

subject  of  complaint  in  this  nation." Burke.    Reflections  on  the  French 

Revolution.    Written  and  published  in  171-0. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  137 

"But,  whatever  momentary  relief,  or  aid,  the  Minister  and  the  Bank 
might  expect  from  this  low  contrivance  of  Five  Pound  Notes,  it  will  in- 
crease the  inability  of  the  Lank  to  pay  the  Higher  Notes,  smd  hasten  the 
destruction  of  all  ;  for,  even  the  small  taxes  that  used  to  be  paid  in 
money,  will  now  be  paid  in  those  notes,  and  the  Bank  will  soon  find  it- 
self with  scarcely  any  ofher  money  than  what  the  hair-powder  puinea- 
tax  brinp*  in."— Fame's  Decline  and  Ftill  of  (he  English  System  of  Pi- 
nance.  Written  and  published  in  March,  1796. 

"  When  the  situation  of  the  B  ink  of  England  was  under  the  consideration 
of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  in  the  year  1797,  it  was  my  opinion, 
and  that  of  many  others,  that  the  extent  to  which  the  Paper  Currency  had 
teen  carried,  was  the  first  and  principal,  though  not  the  sole  cause,  of 
the  many  difficulties  to  which  that  Corporate  Body  was  then,  and  had, 
of  late  years,  from  time  to  time,  been  exposed,  in  supplying  the  cash 
necessary  for  the  commerce  of  the  kingdom. "-^Charles  Jenkinson,  Earl 
of  Liverpool,  Letter  to  the  King,  published  in  1805. 


Horrid  Passage  from  the  Morning  Post  Newspaper— Such 
are  the  Writers  by  whom  the  Paper-Money  System  and  its 
Patrons  are  supported — Such  are  the  Answers  that  are 
given  to  these  Letters — Bank-Paper  asserted  to  be  the  only 
Sort  of  Currency  calculated  to  exert  the  Energies  of  an 
Island— Proceed  in  tracing  the  increase  of  Debt  and  Notes 
to  that  Grand  Effect,  the  Bank  Stoppage — Table  showing 
the  annual  Increase  of  the  Debt  and  Interest  from  1793  to 
1797— Increase  in  the  Number  and  Amount  of  Payments  at 
the  Bank  demanding  Small  Notes— Hence  came  the  Five 
Pound  Notes — Burke's  Picture  of  the  English  Bank-Pa- 
per— Paine' s  Prediction — Lord  Liverpool  the  Historian  of 
Paine' s  Prophecy. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  returning  to  our  subject,  we  must  bear  m  mind, 
that,  in  Letter  VIII.  and  in  the  foregoing  Letter,  we 
saw  clearly,  that,  bank-notes,  as  well  as  all  other 
promissory  notes,  ought  to  be  considered  as  repre 
sentatives  of  Debt^  while  real  money  ought  to  be 
considered  as  the  representative  of  property,  or 
things  of  real  value.  At  the  close  of  Letter  VIII., 
we  saw  how  tbe  increase  in  the  quantity  of  bank- 
notes had  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  Na- 
tional Debt  ;  and  we  proposed,  when  we  should  re- 
sume tbe  subject,  to  trace  this  joint  increase  to  that 
grand  and  memorable  effect,  THE  STOPPAGE  OF  GOLD 
AND  SILVER  PAYMENTS  AT  THE  BANK  OF  ENGLAND  in 
1797. 

But,  before  we  enter  upon  this  interesting  matter, 
will  you  give  me  leave  again  to  give  you  a  specimen 
of  the  way  in  which  my  Letters  are  answered  by 
12* 


138  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  venal  writers  in  London?  To  do  this  will  not 
be  without  its  utility,  both  now  and  hereafter.  It 
•will  be  useful  to  show  you  what  sort  of  writers  those 
are,  who  are  opposed  to  me ;  and,  though  it  may  not 
be  so  useful  to  posterity,  it  will,  nevertheless,  be  of 
some  use,  and  will  be  very  curious,  for  our  children 
to  see  what  manner  of  men  those  were,  who  wrote 
in  favour  of  the  Paper-Money  System.  The  passage 
I  am  about  to  lay  before  you  was  published  in  a 
newspaper,  printed  for  the  use  of  "  The  Fashionable 
World"  under  the  date  of  the  6th  of  this  month, 
and  its  words  are  these.  "  To  the  People  of  the 
United  Kingdom. — The  detestable  characters  ex- 
posed lately  in  the  pillory,  may  be  considered  the 
real  representatives  of  the  Corsican  Tyrant  and 
his  Ministers,  who  boast  of  the  monstrous  vice 
which  excites  such  horrors  in  every  British  bosom, 
and  who,  fearful  of  your  valour,  are  exerting  every 
artifice  to  subvert  your  empire,  betray  your  virtue, 
and  extirpate  your  people.  COBBETT,  the  oracle  of 
the  Jacobins,  abuses  the  British  Papers  for  speak- 
ing ill  of  such  infamous  monsters,  whose  detesta- 
ble practices  must  annihilate  every  virtuous  princi- 
ple from  the  human  breast ;  and  he  tells  the  British 
People,  in  effect,  that,  if  they  are  to  be  robbed  by 
taxes,  and  oppressed  by  power,  it  is  of  no  conse- 
quence whether  they  are  conquered  by  a  French 
Vere-street  gang,  or  governed  by  a  virtuous  British 
Sovereign  and  his  respectable  ministers.  Such 
is  the  profound  reasoning  of  an  apostate  low-minded 
scribe,  who  is  impelled  by  a  savage  passion  to  re- 
venge for  ministerial  deserved  contempt,  and  by 
foolish  and  base  hopes  of  conciliation  with  the  Cor- 
sican Monster,  who  often  rewards,  but  never  has 
been  known  to  forgive.  He  publishes  weekly  an  in- 
fernal Register,  to  excite  mutiny  in  the  army  and 
the  fleet,  to  seduce  the  loyalty  of  British  subjects, 
to  confound,  the  good  sense  of  the  yeomanry  by  low 
cunning  and  artful  sophistry  ;  and  above  all,  to 
destroy  Public  Credit  and  Bank  Paper,  as  the  best 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  130 

bond  of  individual  and  public  security,  and  the 
only  medium  of  currency  to  suit  and  exert  the 
energies  of  an  insular  and  commercial  people, 
Such  a  man,  whom  reading  and  writing  made  a 
corporal,  but  whom  sense  and  reason  will  never 
make  a  politician  or  an  honest  patriot,  may  be  the 
proper  oracle  of  a  Vert-street  gang  of  legal 
French  ruffians,  but  his  councils  of  liberty,  eco- 
nomy, and  reform,  must  be  regarded  as  the  treache- 
rous delusions  of  a  French  spy,  when  offered  to  a 
free,  virtuous,  and  happy  nation  !"* 

Such,  Gentlemen,  is  the  language  of  my  opposers. 
Such  is  the  sort  of  men  who  dislike  me.  Such  are 
the  answers  that  are  given  to  my  statements  and 
my  reasoning  upon  a  sober  and  most  important  sub- 
ject of  political  economy.  The  abuse  here  heaped 
upon  a  person  whom  our  commander  in  Portugal,  in 
his  public  despatches,  recognises  as  an  "  Emperor" 
and  who,  in  our  courts  of  justice,  has  been  recog- 
nised as  a  "  Sovereign  of  France,"  to  say  nothing 
of  our  negotiations  and  treaties  with  him  ;  the  abuse 
here  heaped  upon  Napoleon,  who  is  not  only  called 
a  monster,  but  is  distinctly  charged  with  "  boasting 
of  the  monstrous  vice,"  for  being  guilty  of  which, 
several  infamous  wretches  have  lately  stood  in  the 
pillory  in  London,  can,  surely,  not  meet  with  the 
approbation  of  any  man  upon  earth  j  for  one  would 
fain  hope,  that  there  is  not  another  man  like  this 
writer.  Yet  is  it  a  serious  consideration  for  the 
country,  that  such  an  accusation  should  be  thus 
boldly  put  forth  in  our  public  newspapers,  and  in  a 
newspaper,  too,  which,  from  its  uniform  praises  of 
the  men  at  present  in  power,  is  called  a  ministerial 
newspaper,  and  is,  in  general,  looked  upon  as  a  sort 
of  halt  official  print.  As  far  as  concerns  this  par- 
ticular article,  every  man  in  England  will  be  ready 
to  acquit  the  ministers ;  and,  indeed,  every  man  will 
readily  believe  that  it  must  meet  with  their  sincere 

*  MORNING  POST,  Saturday,  Oct.  6th,  1810. 


140  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

reprobation.  But,  this  may  not  be  the  opinion 
abroad  ;  and  I  leave  you  to  guess  what  an  impres- 
sion such  a  publication  is  calculated  to  give  the 
world  of  our  national  character. 

There  is  one  declaration  here,  about  the  paper- 
money,  that  I  wish  you  to  bear  in  mind  ;  namely, 
that  "  bank-paper  is  the  best  bond  of  individual 
and  public  security,  and  the  only  medium  of  cur- 
rency to  suit  and  exert  the  energies  of  an  insular 
and  commercial  people"  So  that,  according  to  this 
writer,  the  return  of  gold  and  silver  would  be  no 
good  at  all,  and  we  ought,  indeed,  to  desire  to  get 
rid  of  it,  if  we  had  any ;  though,  upon  the  trial  of 
DE  YONGE,  (of  which  we  shall  see  more  by-and- 
by,)  both  the  Attorney  General  and  the  Judge  so  de- 
cidedly declared  the  exportation  of  the  coin  to  be 
a  most  mischievous  practice  ;  and,  though  this  wri- 
ter himself,  little  more  than  two  months  ago,  con- 
gratulated his  readers  upon  the  prospect  of  seeing 
bank-paper  destroyed,  which  paper  he  called,  in  his 
print  of  the  19th  of  July,  " destructive  assignats" 
and  afterwards,  "  vile  dirty  rags  ;"  aye,  that  very 
paper,  which  he  now  asserts  to  be  "  the  best  bond  of 
individual  and  public  security,  and  the  only  medium 
of  currency  to  suit  and  exert  the  energies  of  an  in- 
sular and  commercial  people." 

Let  us  now  leave  our  opponents ;  let  us  leave  the 
paper-money  system  and  its  patrons  to  receive  all  the 
support  that  writings  like  the  above  can  give,  while 
we  proceed  in  tracing  the  increase  of  the  National 
Debt,  and  that  of  the  bank  notes,  to  that  grand  and 
memorable  effect,  the  stoppage  of  gold  and  silver- 
payments  at  the  Bank  of  England  in  1797,  from 
which  time  our  paper-money  began,  because  it  was 
then  that  the  bank  notes  ceased  to  be  convertible 
into  coin,  and  they  have  remained  in  that  state  to 
this  day. 

We  have  already  seen,  that,  at  the  beginning  of 
PITT'S  war  with  the  Republicans  of  France  in  1793, 
cur  National  Debt  amounted  to  about  250  millions, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  141 

because  it  did  not  increase  during  the  peace  prece- 
ding that  war.  Its  amount,  at  the  close  of  the  Ame- 
rican war,  was  257  millions,  (See  Letter  III.  page 
43,)  and  the  annual  interest  paid  upon  it  was  9  mil- 
lions and  about  a  half.  The  debt,  and,  of  course,  the 
interest  along  with  it,  decreased  a  little  before  the 
beginning  of  PITT'S  war  against  the  Jacobins  of 
France  ;  so  that,  when  that  war  was  begun,  both 
Debt  and  Interest  were  somewhat  less  than  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  American  war.  We  will,  however, 
take  them  at  what  they  were  at  the  last-mentioned 
period;  and,  in  order  the  more  clearly  to  shew  the 
progress  of  the  cause  of  the  great  increase  of  bank- 
notes, and  finally,  of  the  Stoppage  of  Gold  and  Sil- 
ver-payments ai  the  Bank,  we  will  state  the  annual 
increase  of  the  Debt  and  Interest,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  to  the  year  1797,  when  the  Stoppage 
took  place ;  which  statement  is  not  only  very  cu- 
rious, but  is  of  singularly  great  importance. 


Before  the  Anti-Jacobin  war  began 

(in  1793,)  the  amount  was  .  . 

In  that  same  year  was  added  .  . 

Amount  at  the  end  of  1793    .  .  . 

In  the  year  1794  was  added  .  . 

Amount  at  the  end  of  1794    .  .  . 

In  the  year  1795  was  added    .  .  . 

Amount  at  the  end  of  1795    .  .  . 

In  the  year  1796  was  added  .  .  . 

Amount  at  the  end  of  1796    .  .  . 

In  the  year  1797  was  added  .  .  . 

Amount  at  the  end  of  1797    .  .  .     *413,140,831       17,015,149 


DEBT. 

£. 

257,213,043 
6,250,000 

INTEREST. 

£. 

9,669,435 
252,812 

263,463,043 
15,676,525 

9,922,247 
773,324 

279,139,567 
25,609,897 

10,695,571 
1,227,415 

304,749,464 
41,303,699 

11,922,986 
1,850,373 

346,053,163 
67,087,668 

13,773,359 
3,241,790 

Thus,  then,  we  see,  that  the  first  four  years  and  a 


*  To  convert  these  sums  into  United  States'  Money,  see 
page  44. 


142  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

half  of  PITT'S  war  with  the  Jacobins,  or  Republi- 
cans of  France,  nearly  doubled  the  Debt  and  the  In- 
terest, or  (which  is  the  same  thing  to  the  people,) 
the  annual  charge  on  account  of  Debt,  which,  to- 
gether with  interest,  includes  management  and  Sink- 
ing-Fund  allowance.  Four  years  and  a  half  of  the 
Anti-Jacobin  war  nearly  doubled  these ;  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  we  have  before  laid  down  in 
Letters  VII.  and  VIII.,  the  bank  notes  would  necessa- 
rily increase  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  Debt  and 
Interest  increased  ;  because,  every  quarter  of  a  year, 
the  dividends  to  be  paid  at  the  Bank  became  greater 
and  greater. 

Before  the  Anti-Jacobin  war  began,  the  dividends 
of  a  year  amounted,  as  we  see  above,  to  9,669,435/. 
To  obviate  all  pettifogging  cavil  here,  let  me  state, 
that  this  sum  was  not  wholly  dividends,  or  interest ; 
but  consisted,  partly,  of  "  charges  for  management" 
paid  to  the  Bank  of  England  ;  and  also  of  charges 
on  "  account  of  the  Sinking-Fund"  But,  as  was 
observed  before,  this  is  of  no  consequence  to  the 
people  who  pay  the  taxes,  out  of  which  the  whole 
sum  comes  ;  and  I  only  make  the  distinction  to  avoid 
a  cavilling  charge  of  misrepresentation,  or  error. 
When,  therefore,  we  speak  of  the  amount  of  the  In- 
terest of  the  National  Debt,  let  it  be  understood,  that 
we  include  these  charges ;  and  that,  by  the  word  In- 
terest, is  meant  the  annual  charge  on  account  of 
the  Debt. 

To  resume,  then  ;  before  the  Anti-Jacobin  war 
began,  the  dividends,  or  interest,  of  one  year  amount- 
ed, as  we  have  seen,  to  9,669,435  pounds;  and  be- 
fore the  nation  got  to  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  of  that 
war,  a  year's  dividends,  or  interest,  amounted  to 
17,015,149  pounds ;  not  much  short  of  double.  The 
Bank,  therefore,  having  nearly  twice  as  much  to  pay 
yearly  in  interest  of  the  Debt ;  having,  to  speak  in 
round  numbers,  17  millions  to  pay  under  this  head, 
where  it  had  but  9  millions  to  pay  before  the  begin- 
ning of  PITT'S  Ant i- Jacobin  war  j  having  twice  is 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  143 

much  to  issue  on  this  great  score  as  it  had  previous 
to  the  war,  was,  of  course,  compelled  to  increase  the 
quantity  of  its  paper-promises,  or  the  quantity  of 
its  Gold  and  Silver-coin  ;  because,  as  we  have  be- 
fore seen,  (Letter  VII.  page  91,)  an  increase  in  the 
number  and  amount  of  payments  must  necessarily 
demand  an  increase  of  the  money,  or  medium,  in 
which  those  payments  are  made  ;  and,  why  this  in- 
crease, at  the  Bank  of  England,  would  take  place 
in  paper-promises,  and  not  in  Gold  and  Silver  coin, 
we  have  seen  in  Letters  VII.  and  VIII. ;  where  it 
was  shown  that  an  increase  of  Debt  must  produce 
an  increase  of  paper-promises,  or  notes,  when  once 
a  paper-system  has  begun. 

That  the  experience  of  the  times  of  which  we  arc 
now  speaking,  perfectly  corresponded  with  the  prin- 
ciples here  stated,  we  shall  now  see,  by  adverting  a 
little  to  the  manner  in  which  the  payments  of  in- 
terest at  the  Bank  were  formerly  made. 

It  has  before  been  observed,  that,  when  the  Na- 
tional Debt  first  began,  the  whole  of  the  Interest  was 
paid  in  Gold  and  Silver,  there  being  then  no  such 
thing  as  bank  notes,  and  no  such  thing-  as  a  Bank, 
in  this  country.  It  has  also  been  observed,  that,  very 
shortly  after  the  Debt  came  into  existence,  it  produced 
its  natural  offspring,  a  Bank,  which  issued  its  pro- 
missory notes  ;  and  in  which  promissory  notes  tho 
interest  of  the  Debt  was,  in  part,  at  least,  paid.  At 
Jirst,  it  appears,  that  the  Bank  paid  an  interest  upon 
its  notes,  or  bills  ;  but,  this  was  soon  left  off;  and, 
from  that  time,  the  bank  notes,  or  bills,  became  part 
of  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country. 

When  the  Stock  owners,  or  Public  creditors,  as 
they  are  sometimes  called,  went  to  the  Bank  to  re- 
ceive their  dividends,  or  interest,  they  might  have 
either  bank  notes,  or  Gold  and  Silver,  according  to 
their  choice. — Some  persons  chose  the  coin,  and 
some  the  paper.  But  as  the  Debt  increased,  and,  of 
course,  the  amount  of  the  dividends,  or  interest,  it 
was  evident,  from  what  has  already  been  said,  thai 


144  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  Bank  would  possess  a  less  and  less  quantity  of 
Gold  and  Silver  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  its 
paper.  And,  further,  the  payments  of  interest  hay- 
ing, as  we  have  seen  above,  become  nearly  double 
in  amount  to  what  they  were  in  1793,  previous  to 
the  Anti- Jacobin  war,  it  is  natural  to  suppose,  that 
there  would  be  double  the  number  of  Stock-holders, 
and,  of  course,  double  the  number  of  payments  to 
make.  Therefore,  as,  at  every  payment,  the  re- 
ceiver has  his  choice  of  paper,  or  Gold  and  Silver- 
coin,  there  were  double  the  number  of  chances 
against  the  bank  ;  and,  at  any  rate,  as  there  were,  as 
yet,  no  bank  notes  of  an  amount  less  than  TEN 
POUNDS,  there  must  necessarily  be,  upon  every  pay- 
ment, an  issue  of  Gold  and  Silver  from  the  Bank, 
to  the  amount  of  every  demand,  or  part  of  a  demand, 
falling-  short  of  ten  pounds. 

This  the  bank  could  bear  before  the  Anti-Jacobin 
war;  but,  when  that  war  had  nearly  doubled  the 
Debt,  the  Interest,  and  the  number  of  the  payments, 
on  account  of  Interest;  when  this  increase  had  taken 
place,  the  Bank  found  it  necessary,  not  only  to  aug- 
ment the  general  quantity  of  its  notes  ;  it  found  it  ne- 
cessary not  only  to  add  to  the  total  amount  of  its  notes ; 
that  is  to  say,  to  put  out  a  greater  sum  in  notes,  than 
it  had  out  before  the  Anti-Jacobin  war ;  but  it  also 
found  it  necessary  to  put  out  some  notes  of  a  lower 
amount  than  it  already  had,  in  order  to  pay  the  parts 
of  ten  pounds,  which  we  have  just  mentioned. 

Hence  came  the  FIVE  POUND  NOTES.  And  you 
will  perceive,  Gentlemen,  that  causes  precisely  si- 
milar had  formerly  produced  the  FIFTEEN  POUND 
NOTES  and  the  TEN  POUND  Notes ;  namely,  an  in- 
crease of  the  National  Debt,  and,  of  course,  an  in- 
crease of  the  dividends,  or  interest;  these  being  al- 
ways paid  at  the  Bank,  after  the  establishment  of  the 
Bank  Company. 

Here  let  us  stop  for  a  little,  and  look  back  at  the 
MOTTO,  or  rather  MOTTOS,  to  this  Letter. 

In  the  FIRST,  the  passage  from  BUKKE,  we  have  a 


PAPER   AGAINST   GOLD.  145 

picture  of  English  Bank  Paper  previous  to  the  war ; 
aye,  to  that  very  war,  which  that  very  picture  and 
others  in  the  same  publication  greatly  tended  to  pro- 
duce, and  were,  without,  I  believe,  any  bad  motive, 
intended  to  produce.  Look  well  at  that  picture, 
Gentlemen.  Look  at  the  triumphant  contrast  there 
exhibited  between  the  money  of  England  and  that 
of  France,  which  latter  country  had  then  a  paper- 
money.  And,  when  you  have  viewed  that  picture  in 
all  its  parts ;  when  you  have  fully  examined  the  con- 
trast ;  then  turn  your  eyes  to  what  is  now  exhibited 
to  the  world  ;  then  see  what  English  Bank-Paper 
now  is,  and  what,  in  this  regard,  is  the  state  of 
France,  where  all  the  paper-money  has,  long  ago, 
been  destroyed,  and  where  there  is  no  currency  but 
that  of  Gold  and  Silver-coin,  part  of  which  coin  con- 
sists of  English  Guineas,  those  guineas  the  absence 
of  which  all  men  of  sense  and  of  public  spirit  so 
sorely  lament,  and  the  practicability  of  causing  the 
return  of  which  is,  as  you  will  bear  in  mind,  the 
chief  object  of  our  inquiries. 

In  the  SECOND  motto,  the  passage  from  PAINE,  (the 
mortal  antagonist  of  Burke  as  to  every  thing  else,) 
we  have  an  opinion  as  to  the  consequences  of  the 
Bank  having  made  Five  Pound  notes.  We  have  a 
prediction  as  to  the  inability  which  it  will  produce 
in  the  Bank  to  pay  its  higher  notes.  This  predic- 
tion was,  it  appears,  written  in  March,  1796,  and  it 
was  published  in  England,  in,  or  about,  the  month 
of  June  of  that  year ;  which  was,  as  we  shall  see 
by-and-by,  only  about  nine  months  before  the  stop- 
page of  gold  and  silver-payments  at  the  Bank  ac- 
tually took  place. 

In  the  THIRD  motto,  the  passage  from  the  late 
Lord  LIVERPOOL,  we  have  the  opinion,  not  only  of 
the  writer  himself,  who  upon  such  a  matter,  is  no 
very  mean  authority,  but,  as  he  asserts,  of  many 
others,  (doubtless,  persons  of  distinction,  as  to  rank, 
at  least ;)  we  have  an  opinion,  thus  sanctioned,  that 
the  increase  of  the  paper  currency  was  the  first 
13 


146  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

and  principal  cause  of  the  Stoppage  of  Gold  and 
Silver  payments  at  the  Bank ;  and  which  opinion 
perfectly  corresponds  with  that  of  PAINE,  there  be- 
ing this  distinction  in  the  merits  of  the  two  writers, 
that  Lord  Liverpool  only  recorded  what  PAINE  had 
foretold :  the  former  was  the  historian,  the  latter  the 
prophet ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  curious,  that  Lord  Li- 
verpool, a  clerk  in  whose  office  had  written,  under  a 
feigned  name,  a  sham  life  of  PAINE,  should  become 
the  recorder  of  the  truth  of  PAINE'S  predictions,  and 
that,  too,  in  "  a  Letter  to  the  King,"  in  whose  name 
the  very  work  containing  the  predictions  had  been 
prosecuted  as  A  LIBEL. 

Here  are  three  writers,  all  of  great  understanding 
and  experience,  and  the  two  former  of  abilities 
scarcely  ever  surpassed  in  any  age  or  country,  all 
opposed  to  each  other  as  to  every  other  question ; 
each  one  hating  the  other  two,  and  each  one  hating 
the  other  one :  yet  all  agreeing  as  harmoniously  as 
their  bones  would  now  agree,  if  they  happened  to  be 
tumbled  together ;  all  agreeing  as  to  these  principles 
respecting  paper-money. 

Having  now  traced  the  increase  of  the  Debt  down 
to  the  putting  forth  of  the  Five  Pound  bank  notes, 
we  will  rest  here,  and  resume  the  subject  in  OUT 
next. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  friend, 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  8th  Oct.  1810. 


I 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  147 

LETTER  XL 


"These  Jive  pound-notes  will  circulate  chiefly  among  little  shop-keepers, 
butchers,  bakers,  market-people,  renters  of  small  nouses,  lodgers,  &c. 
All  the  high  departments  of  commerce,  and  the  affluent  stations  of  life 
were  already  overstocked,  as  Smith  expresses  it,  with  the  bank  notes. 
No  place  remained  open  wherein  to  crowd  an  additional  quantity  of 
bank  notes  but  among  the  class  of  people  I  have  just  mentioned,  and 
the  means  of  doing  this  could  be  best  effected  by  coining  Five  Pound- 
notes.  But  no  new  supplies  of  money  can,  as  we  said  before,  now 
arrive  at  the  Bank,  as  all  the  taxes  will  be  paid  in  paper.  What,  then, 
would  be  the  consequence,  were  the  Public  Creditors  to  demand  pay- 
ment of  their  Dividends  in  Cash,  or  demand  Cash  for  the  bank  notes 
in  which  the  Dividends  are  paid  ;  a  circumstance  always  liable  to  hap- 
pen."—Fame.  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  English  System  of  Finance.  Pub- 
lished in  1796. 

"  I  should  stop  here,  but  there  is  a  subject  of  so  great  importance,  and  so 
nearly  connected  with  the  Coins  of  your  Majesty's  realm,  that  I  should 
not  discharge  my  duty  if  I  left  it  wholly  unnoticed  ;  I  mean  what  is 
now  caljed  Paper  currency;  which  is  carried  to  so  great  an  extent, 
that  it  is  become  highly  inconvenient  to  your  Majesty's  subjects,  and 
may  prove,  in  its  consequences,  if  no  remedy  is  applied,  dangerous  to 
the  credit  of  the  Kingdom.  It  is  certain,  that  the  smaller  Notes  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  those  issued  by  country  Bankers,  have  supplanted 
the  Gold  Coin?,  usurped  their  functions,  and  driven  a  great  part  of  them 
out  of  circulation  :  in  some  parts  of  Great  Britain,  and  especially  in  the 
southern  parts  of  Ireland,  small  Notes  have  been  issued  to  supply  the  place 
of  Silver  Coins,  of  which  there  is  certainly  a  great  deficiency."— Charle* 
Jenkinson,  Earl  of  Liverpool,  Letter  to  the  King.  Published  in  1805. 


Progress  from  FIVE  to  ONE  Pound-Notes — Suspicion  begun 
soon  after  the  FIVE  Pound-Notes— Paine' s  Prediction  as  to 
People  going  to  the  Bank — Lord  Liverpool's  Opinion  agree- 
ing with  that  of  Mr.  Paine— History  of  the  Bank  Stoppage 
of  Gold  and  Silver  Payments— Enormous  increase  of  the 
Debt  in  1797 — Other  cause — Alarmists — Meeting  of  Parlia- 
ment in  Oct.  1796 — Alarm  of  Invasion — Arming  Acts — Mr. 
Fox's  Opinion  of  the  Alarm— Exaggerated  Representations 
of  the  Venal  Prints  —French  Fleet  appears  oil  the  coast  of 
Ireland — Effect  of  the  Alarm  begins  to  be  felt  at  the  Bank 
of  England— Venal  Prints  change  their  Tone  all  of  a  sud- 
den, and  accuse  the  Jacpbins  of  exciting  Alarm— Run  upon, 
the  Bank  becomes  serious — Increased  by  a  Report  of  a 
French  Fleet,  with  Troops  on  board,  being  oil  Beachy 
Head— Followed  immediately  by  the  landing  of  Tate  and 
his  Raggamumns  in  Wales — Bank  receives  its  finishing 
blow — Vain  attempts  to  check  the  Run  upon  the  Bank — 
Order  oC  Council  issued — Disappointment  of  the  Crowd  at 
the  Bank,  in  Threadneedle- Street. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  the  foregoing  Letter,  we  traced  the  National 
Debt,  and  the  Interest  thereon,  in  their  progressive 


148  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

increase  from  the  year  1793  to  1797  inclusive,  m 
which  latter  year  we  shall  find  that  the  stoppage  of 
Gold  and  Silver  payments,  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
took  place.  We  have  seen  that,  in  the  course  of  the 
aforementioned  period,  the  amount  of  Debt  and  In- 
terest was  nearly  doubled ;  we  have  seen  that  the 
Bank  of  England  had,  of  course,  nearly  double  the 
sum  to  pay  in  dividends,  or  interest ;  we  have  seen 
how  this  increase  of  payments  at  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land produced  a  new  family  of  notes,  so  low  in 
amount  as  FIVE  POUNDS  j  there  having  been,  before 
the  Anti-Jacobin  War,  no  Bank  Notes  under  TEN 
POUNDS  ;  we  shall  soon  see  how  the  same  still-grow- 
ing and  ever-prolific  cause  brought  forth,  at  last,  a 
still  more  numerous  and  more  diminutive  litter ; 
and,  when  we  have  gone  through  the  history  of  the 
Two  and  ONE  Pound  Notes,  we  shall  want  scarcely 
any  thing  further  to  convince  us,  that,  in  such  a  state 
of  things,  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  Gold  and 
Silver  to  remain  in  circulation. 
fr  It  was  observed  in  Letter  L,  page  24,  that  when 
notes,  so  low  in  amount  as  FIVE  POUNDS  came  to  be 
issued  ;  when  rents,  salaries,  yearly  wages,  and  al- 
most all  the  taxes  came  to  be  paid  in  paper ;  when 
this  became  the  case,  and  when,  of  course,  every 
part  of  the  people,  except  the  very  poorest,  possessed 
occasionally,  bank  notes,  it  was  impossible  that  men 
should  not  begin  to  think,  that  there  was  some  dif- 
ference between  Gold  and  Silver,  and  bank  notes, 
and  that  they  should  not  become  more  desirous  to 
possess  the  former  than  the  latter.  In  other  words 
it  was  impossible  that  men  should  not  begin  to  have 
some  suspicion  relative  to  the  bank  notes ;  and,  it  is 
very  clear,  that  the  moment  such  suspicion  arises, 
there  is  an  end  to  any  paper-money  which  is  conver- 
tible into  Gold  and  Silver  at  the  will  of  the  bearer, 
who  will,  of  course,  lose  not  an  instant  in  turning 
that  of  which  he  has  a  suspicion  ("however  slight,) 
into  that  of  which  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  » 
have  a  suspicion. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  149 

Thus  it  happened  in  1797,  as  PAINE,  in  his  pamph- 
let, published  only  the  year  before,  had  foretold,  in 
the  words  of  the  first  of  my  mottos  to  this  Letter. 
He  there  told  his  readers  how  the  issuing  of  the 
Five  Pound  notes  would  operate  ;  he  pointed  out 
how  this  measure  would  keep  real  money  from  the 
Bank  ;  and  he  asked  what  must  be  the  consequence, 
if  (as  it  might  any  day  happen)  the  people  should 
go  to  the  Bank,  and  demand  cash  for  the  notes. 
This  did  happen  the  very  next  year;  and,  as  he 
foretold  in  another  part  of  his  pamphlet,  those  who 
went  to  present  their  notes  first,  came  best  off.  Lord 
LIVERPOOL,  in  the  passage  which  I  have  selected  for 
my  second  motto  to  this  Letter,  had,  when  he  wrote, 
seen  the  thing  happen  ;  he  had  seen  the  fulfilment 
of  what  Mr.  PAINE  had  foretold,  and  spoke,  there- 
fore, of  the  "  dangerous"  consequences  of  an  ex- 
cessive issue  of  paper,  with  the  fact  before  his  eyes. 
Experience,  which,  says  the  proverb,  "makes  fools 
wise,"  had  taught  his  Lordship  in  1805,  what  he 
might  have  learned  from  Mr.  PAINE  in  1796.  Ne- 
vertheless, the  opinions  of  Lord  Liverpool  have 
some  weight,  and  are  worthy  of  attention  with  us  in 
England ;  because,  though  his  talents  and  mind 
were  of  a  cast  quite  inferior  to  those  of  such  men  as 
HUME  and  PAINE  and  BURKE,  and  though  there  is 
nothing  in  what  he  has  said,  which  I  had  not  said, 
in  the  Register,  years  before  ;  still,  as  being  a  man 
of  great  experience  in  business,  as  having,  during 
the  whole  reign,  been  a  great  favourite  at  court, 
and,  especially,  as  having,  upon  this  occasion,  ad- 
dressed himself  directly  to  the  King  ;  his  opinions, 
though  of  no  consequence  elsewhere,  are  worthy  of 
some  notice  in  this  country,  and  may  possibly,  in 
some  minds,  tend  to  produce  that  conviction,  which, 
in  the  "same  minds,  a  stupid  and  incorrigible  preju- 
dice would  have  prevented  from  being  produced,  by 
all  the  powers  of  HUME  or  PAINE. 

But  we  must  now  return  to  the  Bank,  and  see  how 
it  happened,  that  the  people  went  to  demand  money 
13* 


150  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

in  payment  of  the  notes  in  1797.  That  it  did  hap- 
pen, we  all  know ;  but,  there  are  not  a  few  of  the 
people  forming  the  present  population  of  the  coun- 
try, who  have  forgotten,  or  who  have  never  known, 
the  true  history  of  the  Stoppage  of  Gold  and  Silver 
payments  at  the  Bank  oj  England  ;  yet,  without 
a  knowledge  of  this  history,  and  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  it  too.  we  cannot  possibly  pursue  our  inqui- 
ries to  a  satisfactory  result. 

We  have  seen  abundant  arguments  to  prove,  that 
paper-money,  that  promissory  paper  of  every  sort,  is 
the  offspring  and  representative  of  Debt ;  that  a  Na- 
tional, or  Public  Debt,  never  can  fail  to  bring  forth 
bank  notes,  or  paper-promises,  of  some  sort  or  other ; 
that,  of  course,  as  the  Debt  increases,  and  its  inte- 
rest increases,  there  will  be,  and  must  be,  an  increase 
of  the  paper  in  which  that  interest  is  paid ;  and,  in 
the  last  Letter,  p.  141,  we  saw,  in  the  Table  of  In- 
crease of  the  Debt  and  Interest,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Anti-Jacobin  War,  to  the  year  1797;  we 
here  saw,  in  practice,  the  cause  of  the  making  of  the 
FIVE  POUND  bank  notes.  But,  as  we  have  since  seen, 
that  measure  was  not  sufficient.  We  saw,  at  p.  145, 
that  it  was  to  avoid  paying  in  Gold  and  Silver,  the 
sums,  or  parts  of  sums,  from  TEN  to  FIVE  pounds, 
which  must  have  induced  the  Bank  to  make  and 
put  out  notes  so  low  as  FIVE  POUNDS.  If  you  look 
again  at  that  Table,  gentlemen,  you  will  see  how 
the  increase  went  on;  you  will  see  that  it  \vzsgreater 
and  greater  every  year.  In  the  year  1793,  the  ad- 
dition of  the  annual  interest  was,  (speaking  in  round 
numbers,)  only  250  thousand  pounds  ;  but,  in  the 
year  1797,  the  addition  was,  3-}-  millions  ;  that  is  to 
say,  a  third  part  of  as  much  as  the  whole  amount  of 
the  interest  previous  to  the  Anti- Jacobin  war.  Thus 
did  this  war  of  PITT  against  the  Republicans  of 
France  cost,  in  only  one  year,  nearly  as  much,  in 
addition  to  Debt,  as  the  cost  of  the  whole  of  the 
American  War,  the  extravagant  expenditure  of 
which  had,  till  now,  been  proverbial. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  151 

There  were,  however,  other  causes  at  work,  at  the 
time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking ;  causes  opera- 
ting upon  the  paper  system  from  without;  causes 
which  must  be  here  fully  stated ;  for,  besides  that  a 
knowledge  of  them  is  essential  to  our  inquiry,  it  is 
demanded  by  justice  towards  those  who  opposed  the 
ruinous  measures  of  PITT,  and  who  foretold  their 
consequences ;  and  this  demand  is,  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  addressed  to  ME,  who,  from  being  so  situ- 
ated as  to  be  unable  to  come  at,  or  even  suspect,  the 
truth,  while  many  circumstances  conspired  to  make 
me  take  for  truth  that  which  was  false,  was  not  only 
one  of  the  dupes  of  the  system,  but  who,  unintention- 
ally, contributed  according  to  the  degree  of  my  ta- 
lents, towards  the  extension  of  the  circle  of  duplicity. 

Credit  is  a  thing  wholly  dependent  upon  opinio 
The  word,  itself,  indeed,  has  the  same  meaning  \ 
the  word  belief.  As  long  as  men  believe  in  the 
riches  of  any  individual,  or  any  company,  so  long 
he  or  they  possess  all  the  advantages  of  riches.  But 
when  once  suspicion  is  excited,  no  matter  from 
what  cause,  the  credit  is  shaken :  and  a  very  little 
matter  oversets  it.  So  long  as  the  belief  is  impli- 
cit,  the  person  towards  whom  it  exists,  goes  on,  not 
only  with  all  the  appearances,  but  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  wealth ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  he 
be  insolvent.  But  if  his  wealth  be  not  solid;  if  he 
have  merely  the  appearance  of  wealth;  if  he  be 
unable  to  pay  so  much  as  he  owes,  or-,  in  other 
words,  if  he  be  insolvent,  which  means  neither 
more  nor  less  than  unable  to  pay  ;  when  an  indivi- 
dual is  in  this  situation,  he  is  liable,  at  any  moment, 
to  have  his  insolvency  exposed.  Any  accident  that 
excites  alarm  in  the  minds  of  his  creditors,  brings 
the  whole  upon  him  at  once;  and  he,  who  might 
otherwise  have  gone  on  for  years,  is  slopped  in  au 
instant. 

Thus  it  will  happen  to  companies  of  traders,  as 
well  as  to  individuals ;  and  thus  it  did  happen  to 
the  Bank  Company,  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of, 


152  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

and  at  which  time  an  alarm  of  invasion  prevailed 
through  the  country. 

From  the  very  out-set  of  the  war,  the  inventors 
and  supporters  of  it  had  been,  from  time  to  time, 
propagating  alarms  of  various  sorts ;  by  the  means 
of  which  alarms,  whether  they  themselves  believed 
in  them  or  not,  they  were  enabled  to  do  things, 
which  had  never  before  been  either  known  or  heard 
of  in  England.  The  mode  of  reasoning  with  the 
people  was  this.  You  see,  that,  in  France,  the  re- 
volution has  deprived  the  people  of  both  property 
and  life  ;  there  are  those  who  wish  to  cause  a  revo- 
lution in  England  :  the  measures  taken,  or  proposed, 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  wish :  therefore,  you  have  your  choice, 
either  to  submit  quietly  to  these  measures,  whatever 
portion  of  your  liberty  or  property  they  may  take 
away,  or  let  in  upon  you  a  revolution  which  will 
take  away  all  your  property  and  your  lives  into  the 
bargain.  There  was  no  room  for  hesitation;  and 
thus  were  the  people  determined,  and  with  this 
view  of  the  matter,  did  they  proceed,  until  the  time 
above  referred  to ;  the  ministers  being,  probably,  full 
as  much  alarmed  as  the  people,  and  certainly  not 
with  less  cause. 

At  times,  however,  especially  after  the  war  had 
continued  for  three  or  four  years,  the  effect  of  alarm 
seemed  to  grow  very  faint.  Danger  had  been  so 
often  talked  of.  that,  at  last,  it  was  grown  familiar. 
In  the  year  1796,  however,  things  began  to  wear  a 
serious  aspect.  All  the  minister's  predictions  and 
promises  had  failed ;  his  allies,  to  whom,  and  for 
whose  support,  so  many  millions  had  been  paid  py 
the  people  of  this  country,  had  all  laid  down  their 
arms,  or  had  gone  over  to  the  side  of  France ;  the 
assignats  in  France  had  been  annihilated  without 
producing  any  of  the  fatal  consequences  which  PITT 
had  so  confidently  anticipated,  and  upon  which,  in- 
deed, he  had  relied  for  success ;  and  a  negotiation 
for  peace,  opened  at  the  instance  of  England,  had 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  153 

produced  nothing  but  a  convincing  proof  of  the  high 
pretensions  of  the  enemy,  and  of  his  confidence  in 
his  cause  and  resources. 

When  the  parliament  met,  therefore,  in  October, 
1796,  the  ministers,  and  their  adherents,  seem  to 
have  been  full  of  real  apprehension.  They  failed 
not  to  renew  the  signal  of  a/arm,  in  which,  indeed, 
they  were  kept  in  countenance  by  the  enemy,  who 
had  openly  declared  his  intention  of  invading  the 
country.  The  subject  was  mentioned  in  the  King's 
speech,  upon  a  part  of  which  a  motion  was  grounded 
on  the  18th  of  October,  for  the  bringing  in  of  Bills 
for  the  raising  men  with  all  possible  speed,  for  the 
purpose  of  defending  the  country  against  invasion. 
In  virtue  of  a  resolution  passed  in  consequence  of 
this  motion,  three  Acts  were  passed  with  all  possible 
rapidity ;  the  first,  for  providing  an  augmentation 
for  the  militia,  to  be  trained  and  exercised  in  a 
particular  manner ;  the  second',  for  raising  a  certain 
number  of  men  in  the  several  counties  of  England 
and  Scotland,  (there  were  two  Acts,)  for  the  service 
of  the.  regular  Army,  and  the  Navy  ;  and  the  third, 
for  raising  a  provisional  force  of  cavalry,  to  be 
embodied,  in  case  of  necessity,  for  the  defence  of 
these  kingdoms  ;*'  which  Acts  were  finally  passed 
on  the  llth  of  November,  1796.  When  this  mea- 
sure was  under  discussion,  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  SHERIDAN, 
and  others,  opposed  it  upon  the  ground  of  its  not 
being  necessary ;  and  Mr.  Fox,  who  called  it  a  re- 
quisition, after  the  French  manner,  observed  that, 
if  it  was  necessary  to  our  safety,  it  was  the  conduct 
of  the  ministers,  and  of  the  last  parliament,  who 
confided  in  them,  which  had  brought  us  into  that 
miserable  situation,  "  a  parliament,"  he  said,  "  which 
had  done  more  to  destroy  every  thing  that  is  dear  to 
us,  than  in  better  days  would  have  entered  into  the 
mind  of  any  Englishman  to  attempt,  or  to  conceive ; 
a  parliament,  by  whom  the  people  had  been  drained 

37  George  III.  Chapters  3,  4,  5,  and  6. 


154  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

so  much,  and  from  whom  they  had  had  so  little  be- 
nefit; a  parliament  that  had  diminished  the  dearest 
rights  of  the  people  so  shamelessly  and  so  wickedly ; 
a  parliament,  whose  conduct  it  was  that  had  given 
rise  to  this  measure."  Mr.  Fox  added,  that  he  did 
not  believe  that  invasion  would  render  any  such 
measure  necessary ;  that  the  real  resources  of  the 
country  consisted  of  the  people's  attachment  to  the 
constitution,  and  that,  therefore,  the  proper  measure 
to  be  adopted  would  be  to  allow  them  to  possess  the 
spirit  of  that  constitution.  The  minister  and  his 
partizans  contended,  however,  that  there  was  real 
cause  for  alarm ;  and  PITT  said,  that  as  to  the  con- 
stitution, uit  still  possessed  that  esteem  and  admi- 
ration of  the  people,  which  would  induce  them  to 
defend  it  against  the  designs  of  domestic  foes,  and 
the  attempts  of  their  foreign  alii  eg;"  thus,  accord- 
ing to  his  usual  practice,  proceeding  upon  the  as- 
sumption, that  there  was  a  party  in  the  country  in 
alliance,  as  to  wishes,  at  least,  with  the  enemy. 

While  these  measures  were  before  parliament,  the 
venal  part  of  the  press  was  by  no  means  inactive. 
Representations  the  most  exaggerated  were  made 
use  of  in  speaking  of  the  temper  and  designs  of  the 
enemy,  always  insinuating  that  the  opponents  of  the 
minister  were  ready  to  join  the  enemy,  or,  at  least, 
wished  him  success.  The  French  were  exhibited 
as  being  quite  prepared ;  and  a  descent  was  held 
forth  as  something  almost  too  horrible  to  be  thought 
of.  This  was  useful  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
Arming  Acts  go  down ;  but  the  alarmists  did  not 
seem  to  be  aware  of  its  cutting  another  way  ;  and, 
least  of  all  do  they  appear  to  have  imagined,  that  it 
would  set  people  to  thinking  of  what  effect  invasion 
might  produce  upon  bank  notes. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  negotiations  for  peace 
were  broken  off  by  the  month  of  December,  which 
gave  rise  to  new  alarm.  This  was  soon  followed  by 
the  appearance  of  a  French  naval  force,  with  troops 
on  board,  off  the  coast  of  Ireland :  and,  though  its 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  155 

return  back  to  France,  without  attempting  a  descent, 
might,  one  would  think,  have  tended  to  quiet  peo- 
ple's fears,  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  made  ihe  ground- 
work of  still  more  general  and  more  vociferous 
alarm.  There  were  now  no  bounds  to  the  exagge- 
rations of  the  venal  prints.  From  the  first  week  in 
January,  (1797,)  to  the  third  week  in  February,  the 
people  were  kept  in  a  state  of  irritation  hardly  to  be 
conceived.  Addresses  to  them,  in  all  shapes  and 
sizes,  were  published,  calling  upon  them  to  arm  and 
come  forth  at  once,  not  waiting  for  the  slow  process 
of  the  Militia  and  Cavalry  Acts.  Already,  were  we 
told,  "  the  opposite  coast  was  crowded  with  hostile 
arms :  forests  of  bayonets  glistened  in  the  sun  ;  de- 
spair and  horror  were  coming  in  the  rear."  It  was 
next  to  impossible  that  this  should  not  make  people 
think  of  what  was  to  become  of  them ;  make  them 
reflect  a  little  as  to  what  they  were  to  do  in  case  of 
invasion  ;  and  it  required  but  very  little  reflection  to 
convince  them,  that  money,  at  all  times  useful, 
would,  in  such  a  case  be  more  useful  than  ever. 
Whence,  by  a  very  natural  and  easy  transition,  they 
would  be  led  to  contemplate  the  possibility  of  real 
money  being  rather  better  than  paper.  That's 
enough  !  There  needs  no  more  !  Away,  in  an  in- 
stant, they  go  to  the  Bank,  where  the  written  promi- 
ses tell  them  the  bearer  shall  be  paid  on  demand. 

This  effect  of  the  alarm,  an  effect  of  which  neither 
PITT  nor  any  of  his  adherents  seem  ever  to  have  had 
the  smallest  suspicion,  and,  indeed,  when  Mr.  Fox 
cautioned  them  against  it,  they  affected  to  laugh  at 
what  he  said ;  this  effect  of  the  alarm,  raised  and 
kept  up  by  the  minister  and  the  great  Loaners  and 
men  of  that  description ;  this  effect  of  the  alarm  be- 
gan, it  appears,  to  be  sensibly  felt,  at  the  Bank  of 
England,  immediately  after  the  appearance  of  the 
French  fleet  off  the  coast  of  Ireland ;  and,  as  it  after- 
wards appeared  from  official  documents,  the  drain 
had  become  so  great  by  the  end  of  the  third  week  in 
February,  that  the  Directors  saw  the  impossibility  of 


156  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

going  on,  unless  something  could  be  done  to  put  a 
stop,  or,  at  least,  greatly  to  check,  the  run  upon  them 
for  cash.  The  people  were,  in  short,  now  doing 
precisely  what  PAINE,  only  about  ten  or  eleven 
months  before,  had  advised  them  to  do,  and  the  con- 
sequence was  precisely  what  he  had  predicted. 

It  was  now  extremely  curious  to  hear  the  language 
of  the  venal  newspapers,  who  had,  for  months  be- 
fore, been  endeavouring  to  excite  alarm,  and  who 
abused  Mr.  Fox  and  his  party,  called  them  Jacobins 
and,  sometimes,  traitors,  because  they  said  that  the 
alarm  was  false,  and  was  invented  for  bad  purposes 
These  very  news-papers  now  took  the  other  side. 
They  not  only  themselves  said,  that  the  alarm  was 
groundless;  but  they  had  the  impudence,  the  unpa- 
ralleled, the  atrocious  impudence,  to  accuse  the  Ja- 
cobins, as  they  called  them,  of  having  excited  the 
alarm,  for  the  purpose  of  injuring  public  credit ! 

This  change  of  tone  was  begun  on  the  17th  of 
February  by  those  notoriously  venal  prints,  those 
prints  so  far  famed  above  all  others  in  the  annals  of 
venality ;— the  "TRUE  BRITON,"  and  the  "  SUN." 
The  thing  was  begun  in  "  An  Address  to  JOHN 
BULL,"  in  which  the  "most  thinking  people,"  who 
were  still  in  frying  confusion  to  get  on  with  the 
levies  of  additional  militia,  and  parish-men  for  the 
army  and  navy,  and  the  provisional  cavalry  ;  the 
"  most  thinking  people,"  while  all  hurry  and  bustle 
about  this,  were  told  by  these  shameless  writers,  who 
had  almost  called  the  people  traitors  for  not  making 
greater  haste  to  arm ;  the  people  were,  by  these 
same  writers,  now  told,  that  alarm  might  be  pushed 
too  far  ;  that,  if  so  pushed,  it  might  do  us  an  injury 
equal  to  invasion  ;  that  every  one  must  see,  that  the 
French  wished  to  ruin  our  credit ;  that,  of  course, 
to  show  an  eagerness  to  sell  out  of  the  funds  was  to 
favour  the  designs  of  the  enemy  ;  that  it  was,  be- 
sides, the  greatest  nonsense  in  the  world  for  peo- 
ple to  suppose  that  their  property  was  not  safe  in 
the  Bank  of  England  ;  that  no  apprehension  need 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  157 

be  felt,  and  that  the  people  who  had  money  in  the 
funds,  might  safely  rely  upon  the  wooden  walls  of 
Old  England.  Though,  observe,  the  whole  coun- 
try was  actually  in  movement,  down  to  the  very 
beadles,  in  order  to  raise  men  for  defence  by  land. 

"  The  evidence  of  facts"  was  before  the  people's 
eyes.  The  alarm  was  not  to  be  allayed  by  assertions 
like  these.  And  though  the  venal  prints  grew  more 
and  more  positive  in  their  assurances,  that  there  was 
now  no  danger  from  invasion;  though  they  (on  the 
21st  of  February)  assured  the  people,  that  it  was  "  an 
error  to  suppose  that  the  enemy  was  at  our  gates," 
and  that  "  &  panic  might  do  infinite  mischief  to  public 
credit,"  people  still  keep  carrying  their  notes  softly 
to  Threadneedle-street,  they  kept  on  selling  out  of 
the  Stocks  :  and  a  report,  on  the  day  last  mentioned, 
of  the  appearance  of  a  French  fleet  with  Troops  on 
board,  off  BEACHY  HEAD,*  immediately  followed  by 
the  famous  landing  of  TATE  and  his  handful  of  rag- 
gamuffins  in  WALES,!  appears  to  have  given  confi- 
dence in  bank-paper  the  finishing  blow. 

*  "  PORTSMOUTH,  FEB.  20.— An  account  reached  this  place, 
this  morning  at  half  past  ten,  A.  M.  of  several  French  trans- 
ports, convoyed  by  armed  vessels,  having  been  seen  off  B "eachy 
Head.  The  intelligence  came  by  the  signal  posts,  and  Admi- 
ral Sir  P.  Parker,  immediately  on  receiving  it,  ordered  two 
ships  of  the  line  and  five  frigates  to  slip  their  cables  and  pro- 
ceed to  sea.  This  squadron  is  now  out  of  sight,  and  all  the 
other  ships  are  getting  in  readiness. — The  sensation  that  this 
made  in  the  City  may  be  easily  conceived.  It  spread  a 
very  general  alarm  ;  but  it  was  soon  contradicted.  Letters, 
written  as  the  post  was  setting  out,  stated  that  the  alarm 
had  been  occasioned  by  a  mistaken  signal,  and  that  instead 
of  a  fleet  of  300  French  transports,  it  was  no  more  than  a  sig- 
nal, that  3  privateers  had  been  discovered  oft'Beachy  Head.— 
Such,  however,  are  the  consequences  of  the  state  of  alarm 
into  which  Government  has  thrown  the  country  by  a  threaten' 
ed  Invasion."— MORNING  CHRONICLE,  22  Feb.,  1797. 

t  "On  "Saturday  the  public  mind  received  the  shock  of  a 
new  alarm.  An  express  arrived  from  Lord  Milford,  inform- 
ing the  King's  ministers  that  a  body  of  French  troops,  amount- 
ing to  about  1200.  had  been  landed  at  Fisgardoutof  the  ships 
which  we  stated  had  approached  the  coast  of  Pembroke. 
Ministers  took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  announcing  the  fact 
to  the  Lord  Mayor."— MORNING  CHRONICLE,  26  February,  1797. 

14 


158  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

All,  as  appears  from  the  documents,  and  as  we 
shall  by-and-by  see,  was  consternation  in  Thread- 
needle-street.  The  diminution  of  the  gold  became 
greater  and  greater  every  day.  In  vain  did  the  ve- 
nal prints  cry  out  against  alarm.  They  had  cried 
"  wolf,"  'till" the  people  had  believed  them.  They 
had  called  upon  them  to  "  stand  forward  in  defence 
of  the  constitution,"  'till  they  had  convinced  them 
it  was  time  for  every  man  to  think  a  little  about  ta- 
king care  of  himself.  In  vain  did  these  venal  wri- 
ters now  call  aloud  against  alarm ;  in  vain  did  they 
say,  (24th  February,)  that  the  Beachy-Head  report 
"  arose  from  a  mistake  in  the  signals  ;  that  the  resour- 
ces of  the  country  were  undiminished  ;  that  it  was 
degrading  to  suppose  that  we  had  not  a  sufficient 
force  to  annihilate  the  enemy  ;  that  the  panic  was 
shameful,  unmanly,  mean,  and  dastardly  ;"  in  vain 
did  they  assert  (24th  February)  that  "  invasion  was 
more  to  be  desired  than  dreaded  ;':  in  vain  did  they 
exclaim  :  "  Let  us,  for  God's  sake,  not  give  way  to 
our  fears  so  as  to  injure  public  credit."  In  vain  did 
they  (25th  February)  aver,  "  that  the  alarm  was 
groundless ;  that  they  were  sure  no  attack  was 
meditated  ;  and  that  they  were  convinced  it  never 
would  be."  In  vain  did  they  again  exclaim;  "for 
God's  sake  let  not  the  gloomy  despondency  of  a 
few  men  in  the  city  give  a  fatal  blow  to  public 
credit." 

In  vain  were  all  these  efforts :  SUSPICION,  to  use 
PAINE'S  emphatical  expression,  was  no  longer  ASLEEP. 
It  was  broad  awake,  and  to  stay  its  operations  was 
impossible.  To  excite  fears  in  the  breasts  of  the 
people  was  a  task  to  which  the  venal  prints  had 
been  adequate ;  but  to  remove  those  fears,  or  to  im- 
pede the  progress  of  their  effects  upon  the  mind,  was 
too  much  for  any  human  power  to  accomplish.  The 
run  upon  the  Bank  continued  to  increase,  until  the 
day  last  mentioned,  Saturday,  the  25th  of  February, 
1797 ;  a  day  which  will  long  be  remembered,  and 
which  will  be  amongst  the  most  memorable  in  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  159 

annals  of  England,  as  being  the  last  (hitherto  at 
least)  on  which  the  bank  of  England  was  compelled, 
at  the  will  of  the  bearer,  to  pay  its  promissory  notes 
in  gold  and  silver,  agreeably  to  the  tenor  of  those 
notes  ;  until  the  evening  of  that  day  the  run  contin- 
ued, but,  on  the  next,  though  it  was  Sunday,  an 
Order  was  issued  from  the  PRIVY  COUNCIL  requiring 
the  Directors  of  the  Bank  to  forbear  issuing  any 
cash  in  payment,  until  the  sense  of  Parliament 
could  be  taken  upon  the  subject ;  which  memorable 
instrument  was  in  the  following  words,*  to  which  I 
must  beg  of  you,  Gentlemen,  to  pay  particular  atten- 
tion. 

*  At  the  Council  Chamber,  Whitehall,  February  26,  1797. 
By  the  LORDS  of  his   MAJESTY'S  Most  Honourable 

PRIVY  COUNCIL.-(Present,) 
The  LORD  CHANCELLOR  (Rosslyn,) 
LORD  PRESIDENT, 
DUKE  of  PORTLAND, 
MARQUIS  CORNWALUS, 
EARL  SPENCER, 

EARL  of  LIVERPOOL  (Charles  Jenkinson,) 
LORD  GRENVILLE, 
MR.  CHANCELLOR  of  the  EXCHEQUER. 

Upon  the  representation  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer^ 
stating,  that  from  the  result  of  the  information  which  he  has 
received,  and  of  the  inquiries  which  it  has  been  his  duty  to 
make,  respecting  the  effect  of  the  unusual  demands  for  spe- 
cie that  have  been  made  upon  the  metropolis,  in  consequence 
of  ill-founded  or  exaggerated  alarms  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  it  appears  that  unless  some  measure  is  immediately 
taken,  there  may  be  reason  to  apprehend  a  want  of  a  sufficient 
supply  of  cash  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  the  public  service. 
It  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Board,  that  it  is  indispen- 
sably necessary  for  the  public  service,  that  the  Directors  of 
the  Bank  of  England  should  forbear  issuing  any  cash  in 
payment  until  the  sense  of  Parliament  can  be  taken  on  that 
subject,  and  the  proper  measures  adopted  thereupon,  for 
maintaining  the  means  of  circulation,  and  supporting  the 
public  and  commercial  credit  of  the  kingdom  at  this  impor- 
tant conjuncture ;  and  it  is  ordered,  that  a  copy  of  this  minute 
be  transmitted  to  the  Directors  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and 
they  are  hereby  required,  on  the  grounds  of  the  exigency  of 
the  case,  to  conform  thereto  until  the  sense  of  Parliament  can 
be  taken  as  aforesaid.  W.  FAWKENER. 


160  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

We  shall,  by-and-by,  see  whence  it  was  that  "  Mr. 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer"  received  his  inform- 
ation, and  what  sort  of  information  it  was  that  he 
did  receive ;  but,  for  the  present,  we  will,  in  order 
to  avoid  making  this  Letter  too  long,  content  our- 
selves with  seeing  what  the  Bank  Company  did  in 
consequence  of  this  Order  not  to  pay  their  credi- 
tors ;  this  requisition  not  to  pay  their  promissory 
notes  when  presented  ;  this  Order  to  forbear  issu- 
ing cash  in  payment. 

The  run  had  been  very  great  on  the  Saturday, 
and  people  would  scarcely  suspect,  that  the  Sunday, 
especially  by  such  a  godly  ministry  as  PITT'S  was, 
would  have  been  spent  in  labour  of  any  sort.  It 
would,  however,  naturally  give  people  time  to  think 
a  little  ;  it  would  afford  them  leisure  to  reflect  on 
the  consequences  of  being  without  a  farthing  ot  cash 
in  case  of  invasion.  Accordingly,  on  the  Monday 
morning,  they  appear  to  have  been  quite  prepared 
for  furnishing  themselves  with  real  money,  if  it  was 
to  be  had  at  the  Bank.  Let  us,  however,  as  to  this 
fact,  take  the  words  of  the  venal  writers  themselves. 
"  Yesterday-morning,"  says  the  TRUE  BRITON  of 
Tuesday,  the  28th  of  February,  "  a  great  run  seem- 
ed to  have  been  meditated  upon  the  Bank,  as  A 
CROWD  OF  PEOPLE  ASSEMBLED  THERE 
AS  SOON  AS  THE  DOORS  OPENED.  This 
design  was  HAPPILY  defeated  by  a  Resolution  of 
the  Privy  Council,  transmitted  to  the  Bank  Directors 
on  Sunday  ;  and.  in  consequence,  they^  had  Hand- 
bills ready  for  delivery,  a  copy  of  which,  with  the 
Order  of  the  Privy  Council  annexed,  our  readers 
will  find,  as  an  Advertisement,  in  the  front  of  our 
Paper."* 

*  Bank  of  England,  February  27,  1797. 
In  consequence  of  an  order  of  his  Majesty's  Privy  Council 
notified  to  the  Bank  last  night,  a  copy  of  which  is  hereunto 
annexed. — The  Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  and  Directors  of 
the  Bank  of  England  think  it  their  duty  to  inform  the  Propri- 
etors of  Bank  Stock,  as  well  as  the  Public  at  large,  that  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  161 

Such,  Gentlemen,  was  the  manner  in  which  the 
Stoppage  of  Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank 
of  England  took  place ;  such  was  the  manner  of 
that  event,  which  produced  the  evils,  for  which  the 
Bullion  Committee  have  proposed  a  remedy.  Upon 
the  Order  of  Council  there  is  much  to  observe,  be- 
fore we  proceed  further ;  but,  having  laid  before  you 
a  plain  narrative  of  the  event,  it  will  be  best  to  re- 
serve those  observations,  till  my  next ;  and,  in  the 
meanwhile, 

I  remain.  Gentlemen,  Your  sincere  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison  Newgate, 

Monday,  15th  October,  18 10. 


LETTER  XII. 


"  Every  victim  of  injustice  and  cruelty,"  (speaking  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment,) "  bequeaths  his  revenge  to  his  connexions,  to  his  friends,  and  to  his 
relations  ;  or  (if  all  these  should  be  involved  in  the  same  common  fate  with 
himself)  every  such  execution  raises  detestation  and  abhorrence,  even  in 
the  breasts  of  ordinary  spectators,  and  unites  the  public  opinion  against  a 
Government,  which  exists  only  by  the  daily  practice  of  robbery  and  mur- 
der. From  this  disgusting  scene,  let  us  turn  our  eyes  toowr  own  situation, 
THERE  the  contrast  is  striking  in  all  its  parts.  HERE  we  see  nothing  of 
f  arbitra 


. 

the  character  and  genius  of  arbitrary  finance;  none  of  the  bold  frau 
bankrupt  power;  none  of  the  wild  struggles  and  plunges  of  despotism  in 
distress  ;  no  lopping  off  from  the  capital  of  debt  ;  no  suspension  of  interest; 
no  robbery,  under  the  name  of  loan  ;  no  raising  the  value  ;  no  debasing  the 
substance  of  the  coin.  HERE  we  behold  public  credit  of  every  description 
rising  under  all  the  disadvantages  of  a  general  war;  an  ample  revenue 
flowing  freely  and  copiously  from  the  opulenc.e  of  a  contented  people."  — 
Lord  Morni7bgton  (now  Marquis  Wellesley.)  Speech  in  the  -House  of  Com- 
mons, 21st,  January,  1794. 

"  The  -interest  of  the  national  funded  debt  is  paid  at  the  Bank  In  the  same 
kind  of  paper  in  which  the  taxes  are  collected.  When  people  find,  as  they 
will  find,  a  reservedness  among  each  other  in  giving  gold  and  silver  for 
bank  notes,  or  the  least  preference  for  the  former  over  the  latter,  they  will 
go  for  payment  to  the  Bank,  where  they  have  a  right  to  go.  They  will  do 
this  as  a  measure  of  prudence,  each  one  for  himself,  and  the  truth,  or  de- 
lusion of  the  funding  system,  will  be  then  proved."  —  Paine.  Decline  and 
Fall  of  the  English  System  of  Finance.  Published  in  1796. 

general  "concerns  of  the  Bank  are  in  the  most  affluent  and 
prosperous  situation^  and  such  as  to  preclude  every  doubt  as 
to  the  security  of  its  notes.  —  The  Directors  mean  to  continue 
their  usual  discounts  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Com- 
mercial Interest,  paying  the  amount  in  Bank  notcs^  and  the 
Dividend  Warrants  will  be  paid  in  the  same  manner. 

FRANCIS  MARTIN,  Secretary 
14* 


162  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

"  The  great  object,  however,  is  to  open  the  Bank  of  England,  and  to  enable 
it  to  carry  on  its  pecuniary  transactions  to  the  extent  which  its  resources 
will  admit  of  on  the  solid  principle  of  giving  either  cash  or  paper  at  the 
option  of  the  applicant.  Until  that  is  done,  neither  public  nor  private  credit, 
nor  agriculture,  nor  commerce,  nor  manufactures,  nor  the  income  of  the  na- 
tion, can  go  on  prosperously."— Sir  John  Sinclair.  Letter,  published  in  1797. 

The  Impression  made  upon  the  country  by  the  Stoppage  of 
Gold  and  Silver  Payments  at  the  Bank — Ridiculous  Situa- 
tion of  the  Ministers  in  complaining  of  False  Alarms— Ja- 
cobins now  accused  of  causing  the  Run  upon  the  Bank- 
Foolishness  of  this  Accusation— Mr.  Wilberforce  answered 
by  Mr.  Fox — Now  was  the  Time  for  Mr.  Pitt's  Adherents 
to  leave  him— They  had  been  warned  by  Mr.  Fox  and 
others— King's  Speech,  and  Language  of  the  Minister  at  the 
Opening  of  the  Session  during  which  the  Stoppage  took 
place — If  the  Minister's  Adherents  had  now  quitted  him  it 
migjit  have  prevented  the  present  Dangers— Mr.  Pitt's  Hu- 
miliation in  the  House  of  Commons—  Questions  put  to  him 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Legal  Tender,  by  Mr.  Combe  and 
Mr.  Nicholl's— His  Inability  to  determine  on  what  Measures 
he  should  propose. 

GENTLEMEN, 

HAVING,  agreeably  to  the  Intention  expressed, 
traced  the  increase  of  the  Debt  and  of  the  Bank 
Notes  down  to  that  grand  and  memorable  effect,  the 
stoppage  of  Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank 
of  England,  our  next  object  must  naturally  be  to  know 
what  impression  that  event  produced  upon  the  nation, 
and  what  measures  were  adopted  in  consequence  of 
it ;  in  otber  words,  to  continue  the  history  of  the  stop- 
page down,  to  the  time,  when  the  evil  of  paper-money 
produced  the  forming  of  the  Bullion  Committee. 

The  impression  made  upon  the  nation  in  general 
was  such  as  might  have  been  expected,  after  all  the 
flattering  accounts  which  had  been  given  of  the  na- 
tional resources.  The  ORDER  OF  COUNCIL  does,  you 
\vill  perceive,  ascribe  the  event  to  "  ill-founded  and 
exaggerated  alarms,  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try." But,  supposing  this  to  have  been  the  chief, 
and  only  cause,  with  what  face  could  the  ministers 
complain  of  these  alarms ;  seeing  that  they  them- 
selves had  done  their  utmost  to  excite  them  ?  They 
had  not  only  proposed,  and  carried  through,  the 
Arming  Bills,  but  they  had  been  writing  to  the  ma- 
gistrates, in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  calling  upon 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  163 

them  for  internal  preparations  "while"  (Morning 
Chronicle,  22nd  February,  1797)  "  Contractors  had 
put  every  town  into  commotion  by  inquiries  into  the 
number  of  Ovens,  the  quantity  of  grain,  and  the 
State  of  the  Provisions"  Nay,  the  preamble  of 
the  Arming  Acts  itself  proclaimed,  that  the  mea- 
sures were  become  necessary,  "in  order  to  prevent, 
or  repel,  any  attempt,  which  the  enemies  of  the 
country  might  make  to  effect  a  descent  upon  the 
kingdom."  After  all  this  it  was,  that  the  Privy- 
Council  spoke,  in  a  sort  of  complaining  tone,  of 
"  ill-founded  and  exaggerated  alarms !"  When 
the  matter  came  before  Parliament,  the  Opposition 
did,  certainly,  not  spare  the  minister  and  his  adhe- 
rents, who  had  the  confidence  to  hold  the  same  tone 
as  to  the  alarm  ;  and  whose  opinion  of  the  minds 
of  the  people  was  such,  that  they  scrupled  not  to  re- 
peat the  assertions  of  the  venal  prints,  and  to  ascribe 
the  injury  (Tor  they  then  acknowledged  it  to  be  an 
Injury)  which  Public  Credit  had  sustained,  to  un- 
founded alarms,  excited  by  the  internal  enemies  of 
the  country,  which,  in,  a  contrary  sense,  some  mem- 
bers were  malicious  enough  to  believe.  GENERAL 
WALPOLE  (in  the  Debate  of  the  1st  of  March)  made 
an  admirable  exposure  of  them  in  this  way,  to  which 
no  answer  was  given,  but  that  they  were  not  always 
to  feel  alarm,  because  they  had  once  felt  it ;  though 
the  fact  was  that  they  were  proclaiming  alarm,  with 
all  their  might,  'till  the  Bank,  as  if  afterwards  ap- 
peared, represented  to  them  secretly,  that  the  alarm, 
if  continued,  would  take  away  all  their  cash.  Mr. 
SHERIDAN,  in  adverting  to  the  speech  of  GENERAL 
WALPOLE,  who  had  remarked  upon  Mr.  WINDHAM'S 
not  having  signed  the  Order  of  Council,  said,  "  that 
he  believed  it  proceeded  from  the  reflections  it  con- 
tained Against  the  alarmists,"  and  he  added,  that 
"  even  amidst  the  wreck  of  public  credit,  it  was  im- 
possible not  to  laugh  at  the  juggling  tricks  and  mi- 
serable shifts  to  which  Ministers  had  recourse." 
The  venal  part  of  the  press,  now  that  it  was  im- 


164  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

possible  any  longer  to  disguise  the  state  of  the  credit 
of  the  Bank,  began  a  regular  new  attack  upon  the 
Jacobins,  whom  it  had  before  reviled  for  endeavour- 
ing to  check  the  alarm,  and  whom  it  now  accused  of 
causing  the  alarm.  The  notoriously  venal  prints 
before  mentioned,  (TRUE  BRITON  and  SUN,)  which 
had,  to  the  last  moment,  abused  the  Jacobins  for  (as 
they  said)  propagating  the  false  notion  of  the  Bank 
not  having  gold  to  answer  their  notes.  These  prints, 
never  equalled  in  venality,  I  believe,  by  any  prints 
in  the  world,  the  MORNING!  POST  only  excepted,  now 
abused  those  same  unfortunate  Jacobins  for  not  ac- 
knowledging the  necessity  of  the  Order  in  Council. 
They  (3rd  March,  1797)  again  accused  the  Jacobins 
of  having  caused  "  a  distrust  of  the  Bank,"  and  of 
having  formed  a  design  to  ruin  the  credit  of  the 
country,  in  which,  "  they  had  so  far  succeeded,  at 
least,  as  to  persuade  the  people,  in  some  parts  oj 
the  country,  that  gold  was  preferable  to  bank  notes. 
Gentlemen,  pause  here  for  a  moment,  and  contem- 
plate the  foolishness  as  well  as  the  injustice  of  such 
observations  as  these.  You  will  bear  in  mind,  that 
the  Jacobins,  as  they  were  called,  were,  by  these 
same  writers,  constantly  represented  as  men  without 
learning,  without  sense,  without  property,  and,  of 
course,  without  influence.  How,  then,  were  they  to 
have  the  power  of  producing  such  an  effect  upon  the 
minds  of  the  nation  ;  and,  upon  the  minds  of  those, 
too,  who  held  the  bank  notes  and  who  owned  the 
Stock  ?  The  Jacobins,  as  these  venal  prints  had  the 
impudence  to  call  them,  had  not  been  able  to  per- 
suade the  people  to  check  Mr.  PITT  in  his  ruinous 
career  of  war  and  expenditure  ;  they  had  not  been 
able  to  prevent  any  one  of  the  measures  of  that 
Minister ;  they  had  not  been  able  to  persuade  the 
people  to  do  any  one  thing  that  they  wished  them 
to  do,  and,  at  the  very  time  we  are  speaking  of,  they 
were  out-voted,  in  the  Parliament,  four  to  one. 
Yet,  to  these  same  Jacobins  was  now  ascribed  that 
run  upon  the  Bank,  which  produced  the  Order  in 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  165 

Council ;  which  produced  an  order,  issued  by  the 
King's  Privy  Council,  to  encourage  a  Company  of 
Merchants  to  refuse,  illegally,  to  pay  their  promis- 
sory notes,  when  duly  presented.  The  Jacobins,  as 
they  were  still  called  with  a  degree  of  impudence 
not  to  be  adequately  described  ;  the  Jacobins,  who 
were  represented  as  defeated  and  put  down,  and  as 
being  held  in  abhorrence  by  the  people,  were  never- 
theless, at  the  same  moment,  represented  as  having 
such  power  over  the  mind  of  that  same  people,  as  to 
cause  them  to  make  a  run  upon  the  Bank,  which  was 
called  "  stabbing  the  country  in  its  vitals."  Mr.  Fox, 
in  answer  to  Mr.  WILBERFORCE,  who  (March  1,  1797) 
attributed  "  much  of  the  public  calamity  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Opposition,  and  to  the  conduct  of 
those  who  had  proceeded  to  lengths  which  the  Op- 
position would  not  avow,-"  in  answer  to  this  Mr. 
Fox  said  :  "  this  reminds  me  of  a  scene  in  Ben  John- 
son, where  it  appears,  that  an  Impostor  had  played 
his  tricks  very  successfully  for  a  long  time  upon  his 
dupes,  and,  when  he  was  detected,  the  dupes  became 
very  angry,  not  at  the  Impostor,  but  at  those  who 
had  detected  him." 

Now  was  the  time  for  those,  who  had  been  de- 
luded into  a  support  of  Mr.  PITT'S  measures,  to  make 
a  frank  and  manly  acknowledgment  of  their  error, 
and  to  join  Mr.  Fox  in  demanding  a  change  of  sys- 
tem. They  had,  when  war  was  first  contemplated, 
received  the  most  solemn  assurances,  that  the  re- 
sources for  vigorous  preparation  (at  first  prepara- 
tion only  was  talked  of)  were  ample,  even  from  the 
excess  of  the  revenue  ;*  they  had  been,  when,  after 
the  war  had  begun  and  had  brought,  at  once,  very 
disastrous  effects  as  to  pecuniary  matters,  told  that 
those  effects  were  completely  removed,  and  that  the 

*  "  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons,  It  is  a  great 
consolation  to  me  to  reflect,  that  you  will. find  ample  resources 
for  effectually  defraying  the  expenses  of  vigorous  preparations 
from  the  excess  of  the  actual  revenue  beyond  the  ordinary 
expenditure"—  KING'S  SPEECH,  Dec.  13th,  1792. 


166  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

revenue  was  in  a  favourable  state  /*  they  had  been 
told,  that  the  war  could  not  he  of  long  duration; 
they  had  been  told,  that  the  situation  of  France,  in 
every  respect,  and  especially  in  respect  to  her 
finances,  was  desperate  beyond  description  ;  the 
French  system  had  been  repeatedly  described  to 
them  as  one  that  could  not  last  above  a  few  months, 
having  in  itself  the  seeds  of  inevitable  destruction ; 
they  had  been  assured,  that  all  the  powers  of  Europe 
would  join  us  against  France ;  they  had  been  told, 
that,  if  there  were  no  other  cause  of  ruin  to  our 
enemy,  that  enemy  must  be  ruined  by  the  loss  of  all 
his  colonies  (which  we  had  taken,)  and  by  the  an- 
nihilation of  his  naval  force,  which  seemed  to  have 
been  nearly  completed  by  the  fourth  year  of  the 
war ;  they  had  had,  year  after  year,  exhibited  to 
them  such  pictures  of  the  Finances  of  France  com- 
pared with  those  of  England,  as  to  make  them  be- 
lieve that  France  must  speedily  become  bankrupt, 
while  England  was  (and  partly  in  consequence  of 
the  war)  becoming,  every  day,  more  and  more  rich, 
that  her  commerce  was  daily  increasing,  and  that 
her  credit^  which  was  always  firmly  established, 
was  now  built  upon  a  rock  ;  they  had,  even  in  the 
King's  Speech,  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  session 
of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  and  during  which 
the  stoppage  took  place,  at  the  beginning  of  that 
very  session  they  had  been  told,  in  the  King's  Speech, 
of  the  SOLIDITY  of  the  pecuniary  resources  of 
the  country,!  while  the  Minister  and  his  adherents 
echoed  back  the  assertion.  Upon  this  last  occasion, 

•  *  "  I  feel  too  sensibly  the  repeated  proofs  which  I  have  re- 
ceived of  the  affection  of  my  subjects  not  to  lament  the  ne- 
cessity of  any  additional  burthens.  It  is,  however,  a  great  con- 
solation to  me,  to  observe  the  favourable  state  of  the  Re- 
venue, and  the  complete  success  of  the  measure  which  was 
last  year,  adopted  for  removing  the  embarrassments  affecting 
commercial  credit"— KING'S  SPEECH,  10th  Jan.,  1794. 

t  "  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me,  to  observe,  that,  not- 
withstanding the  temporary  embarrassments  which  have 
been  experienced,  the  state  of  the  commerce,  manufactures 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  167 

which,  Gentlemen,  is  worthy  of  particular  attention, 
the  time  being  only  four  months  before  the  Bank- 
stoppage  actually  took  place  ;  upon  this  occasion, 
Sir  WILLIAM  LOWTHER,  who  seconded  the  address, 
and  who  is  now  a  Lord,  I  believe,  said,  "  if  we  re- 
garded our  finances,  they  were  ABUNDANT  in 
the  EXTREME,  and  such  as  were  adequate  to  any 
emergency  of  the  country."  Lord  MORPETH,  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  who  moved  the  address  to  the 
King  in  answer  to  his  speech,  said,  i(  As  to  our  in- 
ternal situation,  we  have  witnessed  it,  for  some 
time  past,  with  joy  and  exultation  ;  and  have  rea- 
son to  congratulate  his  Majesty,  and  the  people  at 
large,  upon  our  auspicious  prospects  in  that  respect." 
And  Mr.  PITT  himself  said,  "  As  to  our  resources^ 
they  furnish,  indeed,  in  a  moment  like  the  present, 
a  subject  of  peculiar  congratulation,  and  well- 
grounded  confidence Our  re- 
sources remain  as  yet,  untouched,  and  we  shall  be 
able  to  bring  them  into  action  with  a  degree  of  con- 
cert and  effect,  worthy  of  the  character  of  the  Bri- 
tish nation,  and  of  the  cause  in  which  they  will  be 
employed.  These  resources  have  in  them  NO- 
THING HOLLOW  OR  DELUSIVE.  They  are 
the  result  of  an  accumulated  capital,  of  gradually 
increasing  commerce,  of  HIGH  AND  ESTA- 
BLISHED CREDIT  ;  and  they  have  been  pro- 
duced while  we  have  been  contending  against  a 
country,  which  exhibits,  in  every  respect,  the  reverse 
of  this  picture"* 

Such,  Gentlemen,  was  the  language  of  the  Mi- 
nister and  his  adherents  at  the  beginning  of  that 
session,  during  which  took  place  the  memorable 
event,  recorded  in  the  foregoing  Letter  ;  and  before 
you  proceed  any  further,  I  beg  you  to  look  well  at  it. 

nnd  revenue  of  the  country,  proves  the  real  extent  and  SOLI- 
DITY of  our  resources,  and  furnishes  you  such  means  as 
must  be  equal  to  any  exertions  which  the  present  crisis  may 
require."— KING'S  SPEECH,  6th  October,  1796. 
*  See  Parliamentary  Debutes,  6lh  October,  1796. 


168  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

I  beseech  you  to  consider  it  well.  If  you  do  *>o, 
you  never  will  be  deluded  again  by  any  high-sound- 
ing assertions,  let  them  come  from  what  quarter  they 
will.  These,  which  I  have  just  quoted,  are  memo- 
rable words.  They  are  precious  matter  for  history. 
They  go  a  great  way  in  enabling  any  one  to  judge 
of  the  character  of  Mr.  PITT  as  a,  statesman,  and 
especially  as  a  political  economist.  Gentlemen, 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  answering  me  here.  No 
one  can  contradict  me.  What  I  have  laid  before 
you  is  indubitably  true ;  and,  as  such,  I  am  sure  it 
will  have  weight  upon  your  minds,  whatever  your 
prejudices  heretofore  may  have  been. 

The  adherents  of  Mr.  PITT  had  been  told  all  that 
we  have  now  taken  a  hasty  review  of;  arid,  though 
they  ought  never  to  have  believed  it,  having  con- 
stantly been  warned  against  the  delusion  by  Mr.  Fox, 
Mr.  SHERIDAN,  Mr.  NICHOLLS,  Mr.  HOBHOUSE,  Mr. 
GREY,  Mr.  TIERNEY,  and  others,  but  especially  by 
the  three  former  ;  though  they  ought  not  to  have  be- 
lieved, and  would  not,  had  it  not  been  for  the  blind- 
ing influence  of  the  fears  excited  in  their  minds,  have 
believed  in  those  delusive  assertions  and  predictions  ; 
still,  if  they  did  believe  in  them,  they  were  not  (if 
they  looked  upon  the  principle  of  the  war  as  being 
just  and  wise)  to  be  blamed  for  supporting  the  Mi- 
nister ;  but,  when  experience  had  undeceived  them; 
when  they  saw  jthe  proof  of  their  error ;  when 
clearly  established  facts  told  them  that  they  were 
in  the  wrong  course  ;  when  they  had  before  their 
eyes,  that  which  could  not  possibly  leave  a  doubt 
in  any  man's  mind,  that  the  system  which  they  had 
so  long  supported  was  ruinous  to  their  country ; 
when  they  saw  the  Bank  of  England  stop  payment 
of  its  notes,  and  take  shelter  under  an  Order  of  the 
Privy  Council,  immediately  followed  by  an  Act  of 
Indemnification,  that  is  to  say,  an  act  to  shelter  the 
parties  concerned  from  the  penalties  of  the  law  : 
when  the  adherents  of  Mr.  PITT  saw  this ;  when 
they  beheld  these  effects,  this  mighty  ruin,  which 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  169 

that  adherence  had  brought  upon  their  country ;  when 
they  beheld  this,  they  ought  to  have  withdrawn, 
their  support;  and,  if  they  had  done  this,  though  I 
am  very  far  from  saying,  that  they  could  have  re- 
stored Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank,  and 
am  still  less  inclined  to  say,  that  they  would  have 
put  a  stop  to  the  workings  of  the  French  Revolution, 
I  am  decidedly  of  opinion,  that  there  was  yet  time 
to  give  such  a  turn  to  that  revolution  as  to  render  it 
less  violent  in  itself,  less  severe  towards  Europe  in 
general,  and  infinitely  less  dangerous  to  this  country; 
as  we,  in  all  likelihood,  never  should  have  seen  an 
Emperor  in  France,  and,  of  course,  should  not  have 
had  to  dread,  and  to  guard  against,  the  effects  of  his 
ambition  and  his  power.  It  must,  I  think,  be  now 
clear  to  all  the  world,  that  to  Mr.  PITT,  supported  by 
the  great  mercantile  and  monied  bodies,  BUONAPARTE 
owes  his  rise  and  his  greatness ;  and  that,  instead 
of  being,  as  Mr.  PITT  once  called  him,  "  the  child 
and  champion  of  Jacobinism"  he  may  be  truly 
called  the  child  of  Mr.  PITT  and  the  Paper  System, 
that  system,  the  effects  of  which  we  shall,  every 
day,  feel  more  and  more ;  that  system,  of  the  evils 
of'  which  almost  every  man  seems  now  to  be 
thoroughly  convinced ;  that  system,  of  which  to 
prevent,  or,  at  least,  retard  the  still  greater  evils,  the 
Bullion  Committee  have  proposed  that  remedy ',  into 
which  we  shall,  by-and-by,  have  to  examine. 

Mr.  PITT,  who  was,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
boldness  personified  ;  who  never  seemed  to  feel  as 
men  in  general  do  upon  being  defeated  in  argument, 
or  at  being  detected  and  exposed  as  to  points  of  fact ; 
who  always  appeared  to  increase  in  boldness  in  pro- 
portion as  he  has  worsted  in  the  contest,  does,  how- 
ever, seem  to  have,  for  a  while  at  least,  felt  himself 
humbled  upon  this  occasion,  and  to  have  been  as  the 
vulgar  saying  is.  completely  chop  fallen  ;  and,  after 
what  we  have  seen  him  (in  the  above-quoted  passa- 
ges) assert,  only  four  months  before,  well  might  he 
feel  humbled ;  well  might  he  feel  afraid  to  open  his 
15 


170  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

mouth  in  the  presence  of  those,  who  had  so  often 
told  him  that  such  would  be  the  result  of  his  system, 
and  whom  he  had,  as  often,  reproached  with  the 
want  of  love  for  their  country  ;  and  even  at  whose 
opinions  not  only  himself  but  his  underlings  had 
been  accustomed  to  laugh.  To  come  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  that  scene  of  his  long  enjoyed  triumph; 
to  come  to  that  bench,  whence  he  had  so  long  been 
in  the  habit  of  dictating  to  all  around  him,  and  of 
dealing  out  his  sarcasms  upon  all  who  dared  ques- 
tion his  infallibility;  to  come  to  the  same  bench, 
and  thence  to  deliver  a  Message  from  the  King, 
(27th  February,  1797,)  announcing  the  Stoppage  of 
Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land ;  to  do  this,  and  to  look  Mr.  Fox  in  the  face, 
seemed  to  be  too  much  even  for  Mr.  PITT  ;  to  come 
down  to  the  House,  and  say,  that  necessity  had  com- 
pelled him  to  issue  an  Order  of  the  King's  Council  to 
forbid,  or  to  protect  the  Bank  of  England/ro?ft  paying 
the  just  demands  of  its  creditors,  was  more  than  he 
was  able  to  do  without  faltering,  and  it  is,  perhaps, 
more  than  any  other  man  upon  earth,  under  similar 
circumstances,  would  have  been  able  to  do  at  all. 

His  confidence  seems,  for  once,  to  have  failed 
him;  and,  what  is  upon  record  as  to  the  debate, 
clearly  proves,  that  he  did  not  know  what  to  do  ;  that 
he  literally  was  at  his  wiVs  end.  Having  delivered 
the  Message,  and  laid  a  copy  of  the  Order  of  Coun- 
cil upon  the  table,  he  moved  for  the  Message  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  the  next  day ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  gave  notice  of  a  motion  for  appointing  a 
Committee  to  inquire  into  the  concerns  of  the  Bank, 
an  inquiry,  he  said,  which  "  would  greatly  tend  to 
confirm,  the  solidity  of  the  Bank  capital/'  He  also 
said,  that  he  meant  to  declare  by  law,  that  "  notes 
instead  of  cash  would  be  taken  by  the  public  in  pay* 
ment  of  the  sums  due  to  them  by  the  Bank"  Mr. 
ALDERMAN  COMBE  asked  him,  whether  he  meant 
"  that  bank  notes  were  to  be  taken  only  by  the  recei- 
vers of  the  revenue,  or  that  they  were  to  become  a 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  171 

legal  tender  in  all  money  transactions."  He  an- 
swered, that,  "  in  the  first  instance,  he  meant  only 
to  propose,  that  they  should  be  taken  on  the  part  of 
the  public,  leaving  future  measures  to  be  decided 
upon,  after  the  Committee  should  have  made  their 
report.  Mr.  COMBE  asked  him  "  whether  it  was  his 
opinion,  that  this  measure  would  be  resorted  to  in 
the  end"  He  answered,  that  "  he  had  no  opinion 
upon  the  subject.  Mr.  Fox  asked  him  "  if  he  dis- 
claimed the  opinion."  He  replied,  that  "  he  said  no- 
thing about  it  at  all" 

Look  at  him,  Gentlemen  !  See  there  the  man, 
who  had  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  this  coun- 
try for  twenty  years,  and  during  whose  administra- 
tion more  persons  were,  1  believe,  promoted  to  the 
peerage,  than  during  any  century  before.  Look  at 
him.  See  him,  who  only  four  months  before,  had 
boasted  that  our  " resources  were  untouched"  and 
that  there  was  nothing  hollow  or  delusive  in  our 
finances."  Look  at  him  now,  not  able  to  say  ;  nay, 
not  able  to  give  an  opinion,  whether  he  shall  pro- 
pose Bank-notes  to  be  made  a  legal  tender,  or  not ! 
Mr.  NICHOLLS  (of  whose  great  understanding  upon 
this  subject  we  shall  see  many  proofs  by-and-by) 
"  pressed  him  for  an  answer  to  the  question  which 
had  been  put  to  him,  whether  it  was  his  intention 
that  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  England  should  be  de- 
clared a  legal  tender  from  the  Bank  to  the  public 
creditor?  If  so,  he  was  about  to  proclaim  an  act 
of  insolvency.  And,  considering  it  in  this  light,  he 
reprobated  his  silence,  as  an  instance  of  most  atro- 
cious arrogance.  After  animadverting,  in  the  seve- 
rest terms,  on  the  confiding  majorities  in  that  House, 
who  supported  the  Minister  in  every  measure,  how- 
ever wild,  and  sanctioned  every  part  of  his  conduct, 
however  insolent,  he  concluded  with  repeating  the 
question,  whether  or  not  bank-notes  were  to  be  de- 
clared a  legal  tender  to  the  public  creditor."  After 
the  treatment  which  this  gentleman  had  frequently 
received  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  PITT  and  his  adherents, 


172  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

it  could  surprise  no  body  to  see  him  give  way,  upon 
this  occasion,  to  a  degree  of  asperity,  which,  without 
taking  these  circumstances  into  view,  might  not  have 
been  fully  justified  by  the  conduct  of  Mr.  PITT  upon 
this  particular  occasion,  who,  in  answer  to  Mr. 
NICHOLLS,  said,  that  he  was  u  perplexed  by  the  obser- 
vations and  questions  of  the  learned  gentleman,  who 
to  an  intricacy  which  it  was  impossible  to  unravel, 
added  an  exertion  of  voice  much  beyond  what  he 
was  accustomed  to,  and  an  asperity  of  language 
which  even  exceeded  that  of  the  other  honourable 
gentleman  (Mr.  SHERIDAN.)  He  hoped  that  he 
would  not  persist  in  thinking  it  atrocious  arrogance 
in  him,  if  he  did  not  attempt  to  answer  what  he  con- 
ceived it  would  be  unpardonable  arrogance  in  him 
to  attempt  to  understand.  When  a  man  obtruded 
his  opinion,  with  too  much  rashness  or  too  much 
positiveness,  then  he  might  be  accused  of  arrogance ; 
but  he  did  not  perceive  that  the  man  who  altogether 
declined  giving  an  opinion,  could  incur  the  impu- 
tation. But  the  learned  gentleman  seemed  to  be  as 
ignorant  of  the  forms  of  the  House  as  of  the  common 
mode  of  business.  He  might  have  known  that 
though  it  would  be  sometimes  convenient  to  ask  and 
to  communicate  information  by  question  and  answer, 
that,  no  discussion  can  regularly  take  place,  except 
when  a  motion  was  before  the  House." 

This  was  a  very  poor  evasion ;  but,  in  fact,  he 
could  give  no  answer  to  the  question,  unless  he  had 
been  ready  to  make  a  full  and  fair  acknowledgment 
of  his  not  knowing  what  to  do.  Nothing  could  be 
plainer  than  the  question ;  nothing  more  distinct ; 
nothing  more  intelligible  to  any  man,  who  under- 
stood the  common  meaning  of  the  frightful  words, 
LEGAL  TENDER.  But,  how  was  an  answer  to 
be  given  ?  Even  if  the  minister  had  made  his  mind 
up  to  go  that  length.  Even  if  he  had  screwed  his 
courage  up  to  the  contemplation  of  such  a  measure, 
how  was  he  to  find  face  to  propose  it  all  at  once? 
To  propose  such  a  measure  required  time,  even  with 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  173 

such  a  man  as  Mr.  PITT.  It,  at  any  rate,  required 
time  for  him  to  look  round  him  in  the  House.  It 
required  time  for  him  to  discover  how  his  adherents 
felt,  and  whether  they  were  still  to  be  depended 
upon.  It  also  required  time  to  break  the  matter  to 
the  public,  and  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  press, 
and  for  the  minister's  monied  friends  outof  doors,  to 
exert  their  influence.  It  not  only  required  time  to 
see  what  could  be  done,  but  what  dared  to  be  at- 
tempted. 

To  obtain  this  time  the  scheme  of  a  Committee  of 
Inquiry  was  resorted  to,  the  result  of  which  inquiry, 
and  an  account  of  the  measures  adopted,  we  shall 
see  in  the  next  Letter.     In  the  meanwhile,  I  am, 
Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  October  18,  1810. 


"But it  was  ureec 


LETTER  XIIL 


"But  it  was  urged  that  the  Bank  had  temporary  difficulties  to  encounter, 
and  that  it  behooved  them  to  adopt  some  mode  of  granting  relief  to  that 
important  public  body.  The  House  of  Commons,  however,  knew  nothing 
of  this.  No  application  was  made  to  them  by  the  Bank  :  nor  did  it  appear 
even  that  application  had  been  made  for  the  Order  in  Council  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  appeared  that  this  facetious  Council,  instead  of  examining 
the  Directors  of  the  Bank,  acted  entirely  upon  the  authority  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer.  Nay,  what  added  to  his  surprise  was,  that  not  one 
of  the.  Bank  Directors  who  had  seats  in  that  House,  had  ever  come  for- 
ward and  expressed  an  opinion  upon  the  subject.  Some  information  was 
certainly  necessary  before  the  House  sanctioned  so  novel  and  dangerous  a 
measure.  They  had  heard  of  the  Bank  a  short  time  ago  lending  two  mil- 
lions to  Government,  and  they  had  also  heard  of  the  dividends  on  Bank 
Stock  increasing.  "Was  it  not  material  to  be  informed  therefore  how  they 
had  come  to  stop  payment  at  a  time  when  their  affairs  seemed  to  be  going 
on  so  prosperously?"— Mr.  Sheridan,  Speech  28th  Feb.  1807. 

Alleged  Ability  of  the  Bank— Proceedings  out  of  Doors  for 
what  is  called  Support  of  Public  Credit— Mansion  House 
Meeting— Brook  Watson— Quarter  Sessions  Resolutions — 
Privy  Council  Resolutions— Representations  of  the  Venal 
Prints  relative  to  these  Resolutions— Real  Origin  of  the 


174  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Mansion  House  Meeting— Directors  prevail  upon  Mr.  Pitt 
to  have  a  private  Meeting  of  Bankers  at  his  House— Plan 
of  a  public  Meeting  there  laid— Peep  behind  the  Curtain — 
Meeting  of  the  Bank  Proprietors— Declaration  of  the  Go- 
vernors, Mr.  Bosanquet  and  Mr.  Thornton— These  Decla- 
rations compared  with  the  private  Minute  of  the  Bank, 
expressing  their  alarm  for  the  Safety  of  the  House,  and  for 
calling  upon  Mr.  Pitt  to  know  when  he  would  interfere. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WHEN  we  look  at  the  boast,  referred  to  in  the 
words  of  my  motto,  and  consider  how  many  boasts 
of  the  same  sort  the  Minister  had  uttered,  and  which 
he  had  continued  in  the  habit  of  uttering,  down 
almost  to  the  very  hour  of  the  Bank  Stoppage,  we 
cannot  help  wondering  that  he  could  no  longer  en- 
dure his  existence.  What,  then,  will  be  the  asto- 
nishment of  posterity,  to  hear  him,  in  a  few  months 
after  that  event,  speak  of  it  and  of  the  measures 
growing  out  of  it,  as  the  happy  means  of  safety  to 
the  country  ;  and  what  will  be  their  shame  to  find, 
that  he  was  still  confided  in  and  supported  ? 

As  we  proceed  with  the  history  of  the  measures  of 
remedy  which  were  now  adopted,  we  must  not  fail 
to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  opinions  and  doc- 
trines^ at  this  time  expressed  and  laid  down  by  the 
Minister  and  his  adherents,  especially  by  those  of 
his  adherents,  who  had  a  more  immediate  interest 
in  the  concerns  of  the  Bank  of  England.  We  must 
take  care  to  bear  in  mind  what  they  then  said  as  to 
the  origin  of  the  Order  of  Council  for  the  stoppage 
of  Gold  and  Silver  payments  at  the  Bank;  what 
they  said  as  to  the  nature  and  necessity  of  the  mea- 
sure ;  what  they  said  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Bank 
to  resume  its  payments ;  and  what  they  said  as  to 
the  time  of  such  resumption.  What  they  then  said 
as  to  all  these  points,  we  must  take  care  to  bear  in 
mind ;  because,  we  shall  have  to  compare  it  with 
what  the  same  persons  have  said  since,  and  have  to 
show  how  in  this  case,  as  well  as  in  so  many  others, 
the  nation  has  been  led  on,  by  degrees,  to  acquiesce 
in  what,  if  proposed  to  it  all  at  once,  would  have 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  175 

made  it  shrink  with  affright,  or  fired  it  with  indig- 
nation. 

Before  the  House  of  Commons  met,  the  day  after 
the  Message  and  Order  of  Council  had  been  laid  be- 
fore it,  that  is  to  say  on  the  28th  of  February,  1797, 
the  Anti-Jackobin  adherents  of  the  Minister  had  been 
hard  at  work  out  of  doors.  A  meeting  had  been 
called  in  the  Mansion  House  of  the  City  of  London, 
consisting  of  Merchants,  Bankers,  and  others,  the 
Chairman  being  the  Lord  Mayor,  whose  name  was 
BROOK  WATSON,  who  then  or  very  soon  afterwards, 
filled  the  lucrative  office  of  Commissary  General 
to  the  Army,  and  who  was,  in  a  very  few  years 
after  that,  made  a  Baronet.  The  persons  assem- 
bled upon  this  occasion  proclaimed  their  resolution 
not  to  refuse  bank-notes  in  payment  of  any  sums 
due  to  them,  and  to  use  their  utmost  endeavours  to 
make  all  their  payments  in  the  same  manner;* 
which,  as  you  will  perceive,  Gentlemen,  was  neither 
more  nor  less  than  resolving,  that  they  would  do 
their  utmost  to  keep  up  their  own  credit  and  conse- 
quence, and,  in  fact,  to  preserve  themselves  from  in- 
stant ruin. 

Similar  Resolutions  were  passed  in  the  country, 
where  the  Quarter  Sessions  happening  to  be  then 
taking  place,  the  Resolutions  were  sent  forth  from 
the  Bench,  with,  of  course,  something  of  a  magis- 

*  MANSION  HOUSE,  LONDON. -February  27,  1797.- 
Ata  meeting  of  Merchants,  Bankers,  &c.,  held  here  this  day, 
to  consider  of  the  steps  which  it  may  be  proper  to  take,  to 
prevent  Embarrassments  to  Public  Credit,  from  the  effects  of 
any  ill-founded  or  exaggerated  Alarms,  and  to  support  it  with 
the  utmost  exertions  at  the  present  important  conjuncture— 
The  LORD  MAYOR  in  the  Chair  ;— RESOLVED  UNANIMOUSLY, — 
That  we^the  undersigned,  being  highly  sensible  how  neces- 
sary the  preservation  of  Public  Credit  is  at  this  lime,  do  most 
readily  hereby  declare,  that  we  will  not  refuse  to  receive  Bank 
Notes  in  payment  of  any  sum  of  money  to  be  paid  to  us  ;  and 
we  will  use  our  utmost  endeavours  to  make  all  our  payments 
in  the  same  manner.— BROOK  WATSON. 

The  resolution  was  left  for  signatures  at  several  public  pla- 
ces in  London. 


176  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

terial  weight  and  authority,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
instance  of  the  magistrates  of  Surrey,  who,  with 
Lords  Grantley  and  Onslow  at  their  head,  appear 
to  have  led  the  way.*  The  Privy  Council  (pray 
read  their  names  all  over)  had  also  a  meeting  upon 
the  subject,  and  it  was  quite  curious  to  see  the 
Judges  and  great  pensioners,  and  even  the  Minis- 
ters themselves,  not  excepting  the  Lord  High  Trea 
surer,  publishing  their  promises  to  receive  and  to 
pay  bank  notes,  and,  as  far  as  depended  on  them 
individually,  to  support  the  circulation  of  those 
notes. I 

These  Meetings  and  their  Resolutions  furnished 
the  venal  prints  with  the  pretence  for  asserting,  that 
the  alarm  was  at  an  end  ;  that  the  people  had  had 
time  to  reflect,  and  that  reflection  could  not  fail  to 
convince  them,  that  there  was  no  room  for  suspect- 
ing the  solidity  of  the  Bank.  The  meetings  and 
resolutions  (to  which  latter,  in  London,  there  were 

*  SURREY.— At  the  General  Quarter  Session  of  the  Peace 
of  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King,  holden  at  Saint  Mary,  New- 
ington,  by  adjournment,  in  and  for  the  said  County,  on 
Thursday,  the  2d  day  of  March,  1797.— We,  whose  names  are 
hereunto  subscribed,  being  desirous  to  contribute,  as  far  as 
we  can,  to  the  support  of  the  public  and  commercial  credit  of 
the  kingdom,  at  this  important  crisis,  do  hereby  agree  and 
bind  ourselves  to  receive  the  Notes  of  the  Bank  of  England 
in  all  payments  as  Money,  and  to  support,  as  far  as  depends 
on  us  individually,  their  circulation  for  the  public  benefit. 
Here  follow  the  names  of  twenty-nine  signers. 

Ordered,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  Peace  do  cause  the  above 
to  be  forthwith  advertised  in  the  Morning  Papers.—^  the 
Court, 

LAWSON. 

t  At  the  Council  Chamber,  Whitehall,  the  28th  of  February, 
1797,— Present — The  Lords  of  His  Majesty's  most  Honour- 
able Privy  Council.— We,  whose  names  are  hereunto  sub- 
scribed, being  desirous  to  contribute,  as  far  as  we  can,  to  the 
6upp9rt  of  the  public  and  commercial  credit  of  this  Kingdom, 
at  this  important  crisis,  do  hereby  agree  and  bind  ourselves 
to  receive  the  Notes  of  the  Bank  of  England  in  all  payments 
as  Money,  and  to  support,  as  far  as  depends  on  us  individually, 
their  circulation.  Here  follow  the  names  of  forty- three  privy 
councillors,  omitted  as  being  uninteresting  to  the  American 
reader. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  •  177 

soon  obtained  thousands  of  signatures)  were  repre- 
sented as  having  been  perfectly  voluntary;  that 
they  were  the  spontaneous  effects  of  pure  public 
spirit,  working  in  the  breasts  of  loyal  and  disin- 
terested men,  and,  of  course,  that  those  who  did  not 
come  forward  to  resolve,  or  to  sign,  were  disloyal 
men. 

Gentlemen,  stop  with  me  here  for  a  minute.  Some 
of  you  may  have  been  induced,  by  these  venal 
writers,  to  think  ill  of  all  those  of  your  neighbours, 
who  disapproved  of  Mr.  PITT  and  his  deeds  ;  some 
of  you  may  have  been  thus  led,  by  the  representa- 
tions of  these  writers,  to  hate  your  honest  neigh- 
bours, to  stigmatize  them  as  Jacobins,  and  to  suspect 
them,  in  fact,  of  treasonable  designs ;  some  of  you 
may,  from  this  corrupt  and  deadly  source,  have  had 
your  minds  so  poisoned,  and  so  perverted  from  their 
natural  bias,  as  to  have  contributed  towards  those 
fatal  divisions  in  the  nation,  the  effect  of  which,  it 
is  to  be  feared,  your  childrens'  children  will  rue.  Of 
such  of  you,  therefore,  as  answer  to  this  description, 
let  me  beg  the  earnest  attention,  while  I  develop  the 
true  source  of  the  above-mentioned  meetings  and 
resolves,  which,  as  you  have  seen,  were  described 
by  the  venal  writers,  as  being  perfectly  -voluntary, 
and  flowing  from  pure  public  spirit. 

You  will  bear  in  mind,  that  the  Order  in  Council 
was  signed  on  Sunday,  the  26th  of  February,  and 
that  it  was  laid  before  the  House  of  Commons  on 
Monday,  the  27th.  on  which  last-mentioned  day,  the 
Mansion  House  Meeting,  Mr.  BROOK  WATSON  in  the 
Chair,  took  place.  The  next,  Tuesday  the  28th, 
the  Minister,  in  opening  the  way  for  his  first  motion 
about  the  law  to  sanction  the  Order  in  Council,  said, 
in  allusion  to  this  meeting :  "  With  respect  to  the 
first  step"  to  be  considered,  the  state  of  the  Bank,  that 
already  has,  in  a  great  measure,  been  ascertained  by 
the  confidence  of  public  opinion.  Of  this  public 
opinion,  the  most  unequivocal  and  satisfactory 
proofs  have  been  afforded^  even  'within  the  short 


178  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

space  that  has  elapsed  since  the  minute  of  Coun- 
cil has  been  issued.  It  has  been  clearly  evinced, 
that  there  is  no  doubt  entertained  with  respect  to  the 
solidity  of  the  Bank  to  answer  all  the  demands  of 
its  creditors."  Thus  he  appeared  to  consider  the 
resolution  of  the  Meeting  of  the  Bankers  and  Mer- 
chants as  expressive  of  the  opinions  and  feelings  of 
the  nation  at  large,  and,  of  course,  as  being  a  volun- 
tary act,  an  act  of  their  own,  an  act  not,  by  any 
means,  dictated  by  him,  or  by  the  Bank,  nor  hatched 
or  contrived  by  them.  Thus  the  thing  appeared  to 
the  world  ;  thus  it  appeared  to  the  "  most  thinking 
people  in  all  Europe;"  this  was  its  outside  look; 
but,  let  us  now  take  a  peep  behind  the  curtain. 

For  a  while,  no  official  documents  were  laid  before 
Parliament,  relating  to  the  Stoppage.  This  was 
avoided  by  one  means  or  other.  But  it  could  not  be 
for  ever  avoided  ;  and  at  last,  some  of  the  papers 
were  laid  before  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  by 
the  time  that  these  got  printed,  the  public  was  lulled 
again,  and  the  papers  passed  with  little  or  no  notice. 
Amongst  these  papers  was  a  minute  of  the  BANK 
DIRECTORS,  respecting  an  "  Interview  with  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  (Mr.  Pitt,)  on  the  24th  of 
February,  1797;"  which  you  will  observe,  was  on 
the  Friday  before,  the  Bank  having  issued  Gold  on 
Saturday  for  the  last  time.  On  the  Thursday,  the 
run  upon  the  Bank  had  been  very  hard ;  and  the 
measure  of  Stoppage  of  cash  payments  seems  to 
have  then  been  looked  upon  as  settled.  With  this 
measure  in  their  eye,  the  Bank  Directors  and  Mr. 
Pitt  did  what  we  shall  see  recorded  in  the  following 
minute  of  the  Bank  Directors'  proceedings,  under 
the  date  just  mentioned,  of  the  24th  of  February, 
1797.  "  The  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  this 
day  waited  on  Mr.  Pitt,  to  mention  to  him,  that  it 
would,  in  the  present  circumstances,  be  highly  re- 
quisite, that  some  general  meeting  of  the  bankers 
and  chief  merchants  of  London  should  be  held,  in 
order  to  bring  on  some  resolution  for  the  support  of 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD  179 

the  public  credit  in  this  alarming  crisis ;  and  they 
took  the  liberty  to  recommend  to  Mr.  Pitt>  to  have  a 
private  meeting  of  some  of  the  chief  bankers  at  hi* 
house  to-morrow,  at  three  o'clock,  in  Avhich  the  plan 
for  a  more  general  meeting  on  Tuesday  or  Wednes- 
day next  might  be  laid ;  in  the  propriety  of  which  Mr. 
Pitt  agreed,  and  said  he  would  summon  a  previous 
'meeting  for  to-morrow  accordingly.  This  was  com- 
municated by  the  Governor  to  the  Committee." 

Thus,  Gentlemen,  were  "  the  most  thinking  peo- 
ple in  Europe"  treated.  Here  you  see  the  origin ; 
here  you  see  the  real  cause,  of  the  public  spirited 
meeting  at  the  Mansion  House  ;  here  you  see  how 
those  pure  and  disinterested  persons  were  put  in 
motion.  You  have,  heretofore,  seen  the  show  ;  but, 
you  have  now  seen,  as  to  this  part  of  it,  the  funnels, 
pulleys,  pegs,  and  wires  ;  and  the  only  misfortune 
is,  that  you  see  them  a  little  too  late ;  though,  I  trust 
that  the  exposition  may  yet  do  some  good,  and  at 
any  rate,  it  must,  I  should  think,  make  you  a  little 
less  credulous  in  future,  a  little  less  inclined  to  be- 
lieve every  word  that  comes  forth  under  appearances 
like  those  above  described. 

While  Meetings  were  going  on  in  such  a  jovial 
way,  in  all  other  quarters,  it  would  have  been  strange 
indeed  if  the  Bank  itself  had  not  had  its  meeting. 
This  took  place  on  Thursday,  2d  of  March.  The 
Order  of  Council  had  been  issued  on  the  Sunday, 
26th  of  February ;  it  had  been  laid  before  the  House 
of  Commons  on  the  27th ;  on  the  same  day  the 
Meeting  had  taken  place  at  the  Mansion-House ;  on 
the  2Sth  (as  we  shall  presently  see)  the  conduct  of 
the  Bank  began  to  be  discussed  in  Parliament,  and 
it  had  been  asserted  there,  that  the  Order  of  Coun- 
cil was  the  sole  work  of  the  Government,  and  not 
of  the  Bank  ;  the  manifest  intention  of  which  was 
to  cause  it  to  be  believed,  that  the  government  forced 
the  Bank  not  to  pay  its  creditors  agreeably  to  its 
promissory  notes ;  and,  that  the  Bank  neither  wanted 
nor  wished  any  such  measure  on  its  own  account. 


180  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Declarations  to  this  amount  had  been  made  in  par- 
liament ;  but,  it  appears,  that  a  repetition  of  them  at 
a  Bank  Meeting  was  thought  necessary  ;  and  accord- 
ingly a  meeting  took  place;  or,  to  use  their  own 
language,  "  A  COURT  OF  PROPRIETORS  was  held"  on 
the  day  just  mentioned,  namely,  the  2d  of  March. 

At  this  meeting  at  the  Bank,  where  one  might 
have  expected  to  see  the  Directors  and  Proprietors 
clothed  in  sack-cloth  and  ashes,  the  first  thing  done 
was,  the  passing  of  a  vote  of  THANKS  to  the  Di- 
rectors for  having  acted  agreeably  to  the  Order  of 
Council,  that  is  to  say,  for  having  availed  themselves 
of  this  Order  to  refuse  payment  of  their  promis- 
sory notes,  to  refuse  payment  of  their  just  debts 
legally  demanded.  They  had  been  guilty  of  a  vio- 
lation of  the  law,  and  for  that  violation  they  were 
thanked  by  their  constituents,  the  Stock  Proprietors, 
who,  in  fact,  were  the  Debtors  of  the  holders  of 
Bank  notes  !  Having,  with  an  unanimous  voice 
dispatched  this  part  of  the  business  of  the  day,  the 
GOVERNOR  of  the  Bank  took,  it  appears  from  the  re- 
port of  the  proceedings,  the  opportunity  of  publicly 
declaring  (in  a  way  that  might  get  into  print)  that 
the  Bank  Directors  had  made  no  application  to  the 
government  for  an  order  for  the  stoppage  of  Cash- 
payments  at  the  Bank.  Mr.  BOSANQUET,  who,  it 
seems,  was  a  Director,  declared,  that  the  measure 
"was  not  adopted  at  the  instance  of  those  con- 
cerned in  the  direction  of  the  Bank ;"  and  Mr. 
THORNTON,  also  a  Director,  said,  "  that  he  wished  iv 
to  be  understood  explicitly,  that  the  Order  in  Coun 
cil  was  not  issued  at  the  instance  of  the  Bank  Di 
rectors."  Mr.  BOSANO.UET  called  the  stoppage  "  a 
great  state  measure  ;"  a  measure  dictated  by  "  na- 
tional policy."  He  said  it  was  "  meant  to  operate 
only  for  a  short  time;"  and  that  "  he  earnestly 
hoped"  (how  different  from  the  language  of  Mr. 
Randall  Jackson  and  the  present  governor  of  the 
Bank  ;)  yes,  he  EARNESTLY  HOPED,  "  that 
the  Bank,  which  was  quite  able,  would  soon  be 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  181 

PERMITTED  to  pay  its  notes  in  cash,  in  the  same 
manner  that  it  had  formerly  done."* 

*  The  following  is  the  Report,  taken  entire,  from  the  Morn- 
ing Chronicle  of  the  3d  of  March,  1797. 

"Yesterday  a  Court  of  Proprietors  was  held  at  the  Bank.— 
The  GOVERNOR  of  the  Bank,  after  the  Order  in  Council,  9f 
the  26th  of  February,  was  read,  stated,  that  the  Court  of  Di- 
rectors had  thought  it  their  duty  to  acquiesce  in  the  Order, 
and  hoped  they  had  acted  in  conformity  to  the  opinion  arid 
wishes  of  the  Proprietors  of  Bank  Stock. — Mr.  HERMAN 
moved,  "  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Court,  that  the  thanks 
of  the  Proprietors  of  Bank  Stock  are  due  to  the  Court  of  Di- 
rectors for  their  acquiescence  in  the  Order  in  Council,  and  for 
their  speedy  communication  thereof  to  this  Court."  The  mo- 
tion was  put  and  carried  unanimously. — Mr.  ALLERDYCE  asked, 
whether  the  application,  had  been  made  from  the  Bank  to 
Government,  for  the  Order  in  Council,  to  prohibit  them  from 
issuing  specie '? — The  Governor  of  the  Bank  replied,  that  no 
such  application  had  been  made  by  the  Court  of  Directors, 
but  that  the  Bank  having  experienced  an  unexampled  drain  of 
specie  for  some  time  past,  that  Court  had  thought  it  their 
duty  to  acquaint  the  Minister  of  the  Country  with  the  circum- 
stance, that  he  might  take  what  measures  he  might  deem 
necessary,  and  at  the  same  time  remove  all  responsibility  for 
such  measures  from  the  Direction.  He  added,  that  a  Secret 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  had  been  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  Bank  accounts,  and  that  the 
Court  of  Directors  were  fully  persuaded  that  the  result  of 
that  inquiry  would  be  a  report  of  the  perfect  solidity  of  the 
Corporation.— Mr.  SANSOM  wished  to  be  informed  whether 
there  was  any  precedent  for  the  House  of  Commons  appoint- 
ing a  Committee  to  inquire  into  the  affairs  of  the  Bank?  In 
his  opinion,  if  a  Committee  was  to  be  appointed,  it  ought  to 
be  a  Committee  chosen  from  the  Proprietary;  but  after  the 
assurance  which  they  had  from  the  Directors  of  the  solidity 
of  the  Bank  capital,  he  saw  no  necessity  for  any  inquiry  at 
all.— A  Proprietor  stated,  that  there  was  a  precedent  for  the 
measure  on  the  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1696. 
Mr.  MANNING  said,  he  had  examined  into  the  proceedings  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  in  1696,  and  found  that  there  was 
not  the  smallest  reseniblance  between  that  and  the  present 
measure.  At  that  time  the  Bank  had  been  established  for 
only  two  years,  their  Notes  were  at  a  discount  all  over  the 
Kingdom,  and  the  Silver-coinage  was  called  in,  circum- 
stances which  were  totally  different  from  the  present.— Mr. 
BOSANQUET  begged  leave  to  trouble  the  Court  with  a  very  few 
words.  He  said  that  the  Order  in  Council  was  to  be  consi- 
dered entirely  as  a  great  state-measure,  which  was  not 
adopted  at  the  instance  of  those  concerned  in  the  direction  of 
Hit  Lank.  The  Court  of  Directors,  in  the  present  state  of 
16 


182  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

When,  Gentlemen,  you  have  read  through  the  re- 
port of  the  Bank  Proceedings  of  the  day  here  referred 
to,  and  I  beseech  you  to  read  every  word  of  it, 
you  will,  doubtless,  be  astonished  at  the  hardihood 
of  men,  who  could,  under  such  circumstances,  hold 
such  language.  What !  thank  the  Directors  for  not 
paying  their  promissory  notes  !  Thank  them  for 
this  !  The  Proprietors  of  Bank  Stock,  who  were 
the  persons  composing  the  Meeting  upon  this  occa- 
sion, were  the  persons  who  owed  the  amount  of  the 
Bank  notes  ;  they  were  the  debtors  of  the  note- 
holders ;  the  Directors  were  their  agents.  So  that, 
here  we  see  a  parcel  of  people,  who  had  issued  great 
quantities  of  promissory  notes,  assemble  together, 
and  thank,  aye,  and  publicly  thank,  their  agents 
for  having  refused,  illegally  refused,  payment  of 

public  affairs,  had  considered  it  to  be  their  duty  to  keep  the. 
Minister  of  the  Country  informed  respecting  the  situation  of 
the  Bank.  For  sometime  past  there  had  been  an  unexam- 
pled run  for  specie  upon  the  Bank,  and  this  they  communi- 
cated to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  leaving  him  to  adopt 
what  measures  he  might  think  proper.  The  consequence  was, 
the  Order  in  Council,  of  the  26th  of  February,  was  issued.  It 
would  have  been  absurd  in  the  Directors  of  the  Bank  to 
have  resisted  this  Order,  because  the  Minister  must  have 
been  supposed  to  be  in  possession  of  a  great  deal  of  informa- 
tion to  which  they  had  no  access,  and  to  be  in  the  knowledge 
of  circumstances  of  which  they  were  not  aware;  besides 
that,  there  was  no  knowing  what  might  have  been  the  con- 
sequences had  the  unusual  drain  for  cash,  which  they  had  ex- 
perienced, been  continued  for  any  length  of  time.— They  com- 
plied, therefore,  with  the  Order  of  his  Majesty's  Council,  un- 
derstanding it  to  have  been  dictated  by  national  policy,  and 
meant  to  operate  only  for  a  short  time.  He  had  no  hesitation 
in  saying,  that  the  affairs  of  the  Bank  were  in  a  state  of  the 

freafest  affluence  and  prosperity  that  they  had  even  a  consi- 
erab\e  surplus^  and  that  he  earnestly  hoped  they  would  SOON 
UE  PERMITTED  to  pay  their  Notes  in  cash  in  the  same  manner 
as  they  had  formerly  done. — Mr.  THORNTON  wished  it  to  be 
understood  explicitly,  that  the  Order  in  Council  was  not  issued 
at  the  instance  of  the  Bank  Directors  ;  that  their  accounts 
were  not  tendered  to  the  House  of  Commons  for  examina- 
tion, and  that  they  neither  asked  nor  wish  for  the  partnership 
and  guarantee  of  Government. — There  being  no  other  busi- 
ness before  the  Court»  they  adjourned  to  yesterday  fortnight, 
when  the  dividends  become  due. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  183 

those  notes!  Gentlemen,  our  venal  prints  may 
talk  as  they  please ;  they  may  refer  us  to  what  in- 
stances they  choose  ;  but  any  thing  equal  to  this,  any 
such  instance  of  cool  assurance,  I  defy  them  to  pro- 
duce from  the  history  of  the  world,  or,  even  from 
the  works  of  imagination. 

But,  as  yet,  we  have  not  seen  these  proceedings 
in  their  true  colours.  We  have  seen  them  in  colours 
pretty  strong ;  but  we  have  not  seen  them  as  they 
will  appear  when  we  have  taken  another  look  at  the 
Bank  documents,  which  were  afterwards  laid  before 
parliament,  and  which,  as  was  before  observed,  ne- 
ver got  out  fairly  to  the  knowledge  of  the  people. 
We  have  seen  these  Bank  Directors  making  public 
declarations,  that  they  had  no  hand  at  all  in  the 
Stoppage ;  that  they  did  not  apply  for  the  Order  in 
Council ;  that  it  was  a  measure  of  the  government ; 
that  it  was  a  state  measure  ;  and  that  they  earnestly 
hoped  soon  to  be  PERMITTED  to  resume  their 
payments  in  cash.  This  is  what  they  told  the  pub- 
lic on  the  2d  of  March.  And,  it  was  not  only  at  the 
Bank-meeting  that  this  declaration  was  made.  It 
was  repeatedly  made  in  the  House  of  Commons ; 
but,  we  will,  at  present,  confine  ourselves  to  what 
was  said  by  the  Bank  Directors  themselves. 

Such,  then,  were  their  declarations  on  the  2d  of 
March.  Now,  then,  let  us  see  what  they  had  been 
at  in  secret  with  the  Minister,  during  the  nine  days 
before.  On  the  21st  of  February,  they,  observing, 
with  great  uneasiness,  the  large  and  constant  de- 
crease in  their  cash,  held  a  particular  consultation 
on  the  subject,  and  perceiving  that  their  cash  was 
reduced  to  a  certain  sum,  of  which  certain  sum,  be 
it  observed,  they  do  not  slate  the  amount,  they  came 
to  a  resolution  to  go  to  Mr.  Pitt,  and  tell  him  "  how 
their  cash  was  circumstanced,"  they  did  so,  and  Mr. 
Pitt  observed  to  them,  (and  you  will  laugh  heartily 
at  the  observation,)  "  that  the  alarm  of  invasion 
was  now  become  much  more  general  than  he  could 
think  necessary;"  they  then  pressed  Mr.  Pitt  to 


184  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

make  some  declaration  in  parliament,  upon  this  sub- 
ject, "  in  order  to  ease  the  public  mind." — This  is  a 
pretty  specimen  enough  of  the  intercourse  that  ex- 
isted between  these  parties,  and  will  serve  to  explair 
the  reason  for  many  of  the  speeches  that  we  have  ai 
different  times  heard.*  Mr.  PITT,  however,  did,  it 

*  Resolution  of  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  Deputation's 
Interview  with  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  2lst  Febru- 
ary, 1797. 

The  Committee  observing  with  great  uneasiness,  the  large 
and  constant  decrease  in  the  cash,  neld  a  particular  consulta- 
tion on  that  subject  this  day ;  and  on  examination  into  the 
state  of  the  cash  since  the  beginning  of  this  year,  they  found 
that  in  the  course  of  the  month  of  January,  there  had  been 
a  decrease  of  Z.  and  since  the  beginning  of  this  month 

a  farther  loss  of  Z.  and  that  the  cash  was  now  reduced 

to  between  Z.  and  about  Z.  value,  in  bullion  and 

foreign  coin,  about  the  value  of  Z.  in  silver,  bullion. 

Perceiving  also,  by  the  constant  calls  of  the  bankers  from  all 
parts  of  the  town  for  cash,  that  there  must  be  some  extraor- 
dinary reasons  for  this  drain,  arising,  probably,  from  the 
alarms  of  an  expected  invasion ;  the  Committee,  after  ma- 
turely considering  the  matter,  resolved  to  send  a  notice  to  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  of  the  situation  of  matters  at 
the  Bank  :  and  to  explain  exactly  to  him  how  the  cash  is  cir- 
cumstanced, that  he  may,  if  possible  and  proper,  strike  out 
some  means  of  alleviating  the  public  alarms,  and  stopping 
this  apparent  disposition  in  people's  minds  for  having  a  large 
deposit  of  cash  in  their  houses.  The  Governor,  Deputy  Go- 
vernor, with  Mr.  Darell  and  Mr.  Bosanquet,  were  deputed  to 
wait  upon  Mr.  Pitt,  who  went  to  him;  and  after  describing 
to  him  the  anxiety  of  mind  which  all  the  Directors  were  un- 
der on  this  subject,  they  explained  to  Mr.  Pitt  the  exact  par- 
ticulars above-mentioned.  Mr.  Pitt  seemed  aware  that  this 
tinusual  drain  of  cash  from  the  Bank  must  arise  from  the 
alarm  of  an  invasion,  which  he  observed  was  now  become 
much  more  general  than  he  could  think  necessary.  He  said, 
that  by  all  his  informations  he  could  not  learn  of  any  hostile 
preparations  of  consequence  making  in  France  to  invade  this 
country,  except  the  fleet  which  was  refitting  at  Brest,  after 
being  driven  off  from  the  coast  of  Ireland ;  but  that  he  could 
not  answer  that  no  partial  attack  on  this  country  would  be 
made  by  such  a  mad  and  desperate  enemy  as  we  had  to  deal 
with.  The  deputation  pressed  on  Mr.  Pitt  to  declare  some- 
thing of  this  kind  in  Parliament,  in  order  to  ease  the  public 
mind.  Mr.  Pitt  also  mentioned,  that  he  hoped  the  Committee 
would,  in  the  present  situation  of  matters,  think  it  necessary 
to  endeavour  at  obtaining  a  supply  of  gold  from  foreign 
countries,  which  the  Governor  told  him  they  were  considering 
about,  and  should  do  what  they  could  therein. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  185 

seems,  press  them,  in  his  turn,  "  to  endeavour  to  ob- 
tain a  supply  of  Gold  from  abroad"  and  the  Go- 
vernor told  him  they  would  do  what  they  could  in 
that  way. 

On  the  22d  of  February  they  had  another  inter- 
view with  Mr.  PITT,  and  they  gave  GOLDSMIDT  and 
ELIASON  orders  for  the  purchase  of  gold  at  Ham- 
burgh. But  we  no  where  find  any  account  of  the 
success  of  this  order,  which  was,  besides,  rendered 
useless  by  the  Order  of  Council,  which  rendered 
Gold  unnecessary* 

On  the  24th  of  February  they  had  another  inter- 
view with  Mr.  PITT  ;  and  what  they  say  as  to  this 
interview  we  must  pay  particular  attention  to.  At 
a  Committee  consisting  of  the  whole  Court,  it  ap- 
peared that  the  cash  was  going  away  faster  than 
ever ;  "  which  gave  such  an  alarm,  for  the  SA  FE  TY 
OF  THE  HOUSE"  (mark  the  words)  that  no 
time  was  lost  in  sending  a  deputation  to  Mr.  PITT, 
to  ask  him  how  far  they  might  venture  to  go  on  pay- 
ing cash,  and  "  when  HE  would  think  it  necessary 
to  INTERFERE."  Mr.  Prrr  told  them,  that  this 
was  an  affair  of  such  importance,  that  he  must  be 
prepared  with  some  resolution  to  bring  forward  in 
the  Council.! 

*  Interview  with  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  22d  of 
February,  1797.— Messrs.  Goldsmidt  and  Eliason  attended 
the  Committee  this  day,  and  were  directed  to  give  farther  or- 
ders to  Hamburgh  for  the  purchase  of  gold;  and  were  told 
that  an  application  would  immediately  be  made,  to  the  minis- 
ter to  order  a  frigate  or  armed  sloop  to  go  to  Hamburgh  to 
take  in  such  gold  as  might  be  bought,  and  also  to  desire  that 
the  restriction  on  the  captains  of  the  packets,  not  to  take  any 
gold  on  board  at  Hamburgh  for  this  country,  might  be  taken 
off.  The  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  waited  on  Mr.  Pitt 
on  this  subject,  who  promised,  to  apply  to  the  Admiralty  for 
directions  about  sending  out  a  frigate  or  armed  sloop  ;  and 
that  he  would  apply  to  me  Postmaster  General  to  give  the 
orders  to  the  captains  of  the  packets. 

t  Interview  with  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  24th  of 
February,  1797.— At  a  Committee  of  the  whole  Court  hefd 
this  day,  it  appeared  that  the  loss  of  cash  yesterday  was 
above  /.  and  that  about  I.  were  already  drawn 

out  this  day,  which  gave  such  an  alarm  for  THE  SAFE  TY 
16* 


186  EAPEft  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Thus,  you  see,  Gentlemen,  the  Stoppage-measure 
clearly  originated  in  the  representation  of  the 
Bank  Directors ;  and,  which  is  very  well  worthy 
of  your  marked  attention,  Mr.  BOSANQUET  was  one 
of  the  persons  deputed  to  wait  upon  Mr.  PITT  on  this 
last  mentioned  occasion.  The  shuffle  of  saying, 
that  the  Bank  Directors  were  afraid  that  the  drain 
might  injure  the  "  public  service"  is  too  paltry,  in 
any  view  of  the  matter,  to  have  any  weight ;  for, 
whose  claim  upon  the  Bank  could  be  so  good  as  that 
of  the  holders  of  the  Promissory  Notes?  And 
who  were  "  the  public"  but  the  holders  of  these 
notes?  But,  as  if  it  had  been  resolved  to  leave  no 
room  even  for  this  miserable  attempt  at  excuse,  the 
Minute  of  the  Directors  of  the  24th  of  February, 
expressly  says,  that  it  was  "  alarm  for  the  safety  of 
the  HOUSE"  that  sent  the  deputation  to  ask  for  the 

OF  THE  HOUSE,  that  the  Deputy  Governor  and  Mr. 
Bosanquet  were  desired  to  wait  on  Mr.  Pitt  to  mention  to  him 
these  circumstances,  and  to  ask  him  how  far  he  thought  the 
Bank  might  venture  to  go  on  paying  cash,  and  when  he 
would  think  it  necessary  TO  INTERFERE  before  our  cash 
was  so  reduced  as  might  be  detrimental  to  the  immediate 
service  of  the  State.  Mr.  Pitt  said  this  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance,  and  that  he  must  be  prepared  with  some  resolu- 
tions to  bring  forward  in  the  Council,  for  a  Proclamation  to 
stop  the  issue  of  cash  from  the  Bank,  and  to  give  the  security 
of  Parliament  to  the  notes  of  the  Bank.  In  consequence  of 
which  he  should  think  it  might  be  proper  to  appoint  a  Secret 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  to  look  into  the  state 
of  the  Bank  affairs;  which  they  assured  him  the  Bank  were 
well  prepared  for,  and  would  produce  to  such  a  Committee. 
Mr.  Pitt  also  observed  that  he  should  have  no  objection  to 
propose  to  Parliament,  in  case  of  a  Proclamation,  to  give 
parliamentary  security  for  Bank-notes.  The  Governor  and 
Deputy  Governor  this  day  waited  on  Mr.  Pitt,  to  mention  to 
him,  that  it  would  in  the  present  circumstances  be  highly  re- 
quisite that  some  general  meeting  of  the  bankers  and  chief 
merchants  of  London  should  be  held  in  order  to  bring  on  some 
resolution  for  the  support  of  the  public  credit  in  this  alarming 
crisis ;  and  they  took  the  liberty  to  recommend  to  Mr.  Pitt, 
to  have  a  private  meeting  of  some  of  the  chief  bankers  at  his 
house  to-morrow  at  three  o'clock,  in  which  the  plan  for  a  more 
general  meeting  on  Tuesday  or  Wednesday  next  might  be  laid, 
in  the  propriety  of  which  Mr.  Pitt  agreed,  and  said  he  would 
summon  a  previous  meeting  for  to-morrow  accordingly  This 
was  communicated  by  the  Governor  to  the  Committee. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  187 

interference  of  Mr.  PITT  ;  alarm  for  the  safety  of 
the  HOUSE,  and  not  any  motive  at  all  connected 
with  the  public  service  or  the  public  good. 

Having  now  pulled  aside  the  curtain  ;  having  laid 
the  whole  thing  bare  to  your  view  ;  having  placed 
the  application  to  Parliament  in  its  true  light;  I 
shall  in  my  next,  lay  before  you  an  account  of  the 
measures,  which  the  Parliament  adopted,  and  which 
have,  under  one  pretence  or  another,  been  continued 
in  force  to  this  day. 

In  the  meanwhile,  I  remain,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  25th  Oct.  1810. 


LETTER  XIV. 


"  The  question  for  the  people  to  ask,  and  the  only  question,  is  this  :  whe- 
ther the  quantity  of  Bank  Notes,  payable  on  demand,  which  the  Bank  has 
issued,  be  greater  than  the  Bank  can  pay  oft" in  Gold  and  Silver."—  Pa ine. 


The  measures  adopted  by  Parliament,  in  consequence  of  the 
Bank  Stoppage— Names  of  the  Bank  Directors  in  1797— 
King's  Message— Mr.  Pitt's  Motion  for  a  Secret  Commit- 
tee—Mr. Fox  and  other  Members  wished-  for  an  Inquiry  in- 
to the  Cause  of  the  Stoppage— Mr.  Pitt's  motion  carried 
by  a  great  Majorky — List  of  the  Minority— Necessity  of 
a  Parliamentary  Reform— Manner  of  appointing  the  Se- 
cret Committee— Names  of  the  Committee— Restricted 
Powers  of  the  Committee-Reports  from  the  Committee— 
Not  a  word  said  about  the  Quantity  of  Gold  and  Silver  in 
the  Bank— Mr.  Paine' s  Assertion  about  the  Inability  of  the 
Bank  to  pay  in  Gold  and  Silver— No  attempt  made  to  dis- 
prove this  Assertion— Mr.  Pitt's,  Sir  John  Mitford's,  and 
L9rd  Hawkesbury's  Assertions— Mr.  Grey  not  satisfied 
with  the  Evidence  produced  before  the  Committee— Mr. 
Sheridan's  Answer  to  Lord  Hawkesbury. 

GENTLEMEN, 

I  HAVE  now  to  beg  your  attention  to  a  very  impor- 
tant part  of  our  subject ;  namely,  the  measures, 
which,  by  way  of  remedy,  were  adopted  by  the  Par- 
liament, in  consequence  of  the  run  upon  the  Bank 
and  the  stoppage  of  Gold  and  Silver  payments  there. 


183  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

The  Letter  immediately  preceding  this,  put  you 
in  possession  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  way 
in  which  the  Bank  Directors  and  the  Minister  had 
gone  to  work  in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
Parliamentary  Measures  which  were  to  follow. 
You  were  there  placed  behind  the  curtain ;  you  saw 
all  the  actors  in  their  natural  persons  ;*  all  the 
paints,  patches,  cloaks  and  visors ;  all  the  trap-doors, 
pulleys,  pegs  and  wires.  You  not  only  saw  the 
Resolving  arid  Subscribing  show  acted,  but  you 
saw  it  got  up  ;  you  saw  the  Showman  and  all  his 
people  busy  in  making  their  preparations;  and,  after 
that,  you  were  let  in  to  the  rehearsal. 

In  Letter  XII,  at  page  170,  you  have  seen  how 
the  matter  was  first  brought  before  the  Parliament, 
on  Monday,  the  27th  of  February,  1797,  in  the  form 
of  a  Message  from  the  King;t  and,  you  have  seen, 

*  Truth  and  Justice  demand  that  as  far  as  possible,  the 
NAMES  of  all  the  persons  who  took  an  active  part,  upon 
this  memorable  occasion,  should  be  recorded.  Parliament 
may  yet  revise  the  measures  of  that  day ;  and,  then,  the 
names  of  all  the  parties,  immediately  concerned,  ought  to  be 
known,  and  must  be  known. — From  this  opinion  it  is,  that  I 
insert  here  the  names  of  the  persons  who  were  the  DIRECTORS 
of  the  Bank  of  England  at  the  time  when  the  stoppage  took 
place,  and  amongst  them  we  find  our  friend  BROOK  WATSON, 
who  was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Chair  at  the  Mansion- 
House  Meeting. 

Thomas  Raikes, — Governor. 
Samuel  Thornton. — Deputy  Governor. 

T.  Boddington.        Jeremiah  Harman.     George  Peters. 

S.  Bosanquet.          Thomas  Lewis.         Charles  Pole. 

Alex.  Champion      Beeston  Long.  John  Puget. 

Edward  Darrell.      William  Manning.     James  Reed. 

Thomas  Dea.  Job  Mathew.  P.  I.  Thellusson. 

George  Dorrien.      Sir  R.  Neave.  Godfrey  Thornton. 

N.  Bogle  French.    Joseph  Nutt.  Brook  Watson. 

Daniel  Giles.  John  Pearse.  John  Whitmore. 

t  GEORGE  R. 

His  Majesty  thinks  it  proper  to  communicate  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  without  delay,  the  measure  adopted  to  obviate  the 
effects  which  misht  be  occasioned  by  the  unusual  demand  of 
specie  lately  made  from  different  parts  of  the  country  and  the 
metropolis.—  The  peculiar  nature  and  exigency  of  the  case 
appeared  to  require,  in  the  first  instance,  the  measure  con- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  189 

that  the  Minister,  the  hitherto  bragging  Minister, 
being  upon  that  occasion  pressed  by  Mr.  COMBE  and 
others  for  an  answer  to  the  question  as  to  what  he 
meant  to  do,  had  no  answer  to  give. 

On  the  27th,  PITT  gave  notice  of  a  motion,  to  be 
made  next  day,  for  the  appointment  of  a  Committee 
to  inquire  into  the  ability  of  the  Bank  to  pay  the 
demands  upon  it ;  and  also  to  inquire  and  make  re- 
port as  to  the  necessity  of  continuing  of  the  measure 
adopted  by  the  Council,  that  is  to  say,  continuing" 
the  refusal  of  money  payments  at  the  Bank* 

We  shall  have  to  speak  more  fully  about  this 
Committee  by-and-by  ;  but  we  must  stop  here  a  mo- 
ment, and  take  a  brief  sketch  of  the  debate  that 
ensued  upon  PITT'S  motion.  Mr.  Fox  and  those  who 
were  with  him  said,  that  they  had  no  objection  to 
the  appointment  of  a  Committee,  provided  it  was  ap- 
pointed fairly  ;  but  they  insisted,  that  it  would  dis- 
cover a  shameful  disregard  of  their  duty,  if  the 
House  moved  an  inch  further  without  inquiring  into 
the  causes  which  produced  that  alleged  necessity, 
upon  which  the  Order  of  Council,  sanctioning  a  vio- 
lation of  the  law,  was  founded.  They  said,  here  is 
the  minister  calling  upon  you  still  to  confide  in  him  ; 
in  him,  under  whom  the  Bank  has  been  compelled 
to  stop  paying  its  notes.  Ought  you  not  to  inquire, 

•tained  in  the  Order  of  Council  which  his  Majesty  has  directed 
to  be  laid  before  the  House.  In  recommending  this  impor- 
tant subject  to  the  immediate  and  serious  attention  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  his  Majesty  relies  with  the  utmost  con- 
fidence on  the  experienced  wisdom  and  firmness  of  his  Par- 
liament for  taking  such  measures  as  may  he  best  calculated 
to  meet  any  temporary  pressure,  and  to  call  forth,  in  the  most 
effectual  manner,  the  extensive  resources  of  his  kingdoms  in 
support  of  their  public  and  commercial  credit,  and  in  defence 
of  their  dearest  interests.  G.  R. 

*  "That  a  SECRET  COMMITTEE  be  appointed  to  ascer- 
tain the  total  amount  of  the  out-standing  demands  on  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  likewise  of  the  funds  for  discharging 
the  same  ;  and  that  they  do  also  report  their  opinion  of  the 
necessity  of  providing  for  the  confirmation  and  continuance 
of  the  measures,  taken  in  pursuance  of  the  minute  of  Council 
of  the  26th  instant." 


190  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

first  of  all,  into  his  measures  ?  Ought  you  not  to 
inquire  into  the  causes,  of  the  fatal  and  disgraceful 
necessity  of  this  stoppage  ?  Here  is  a  minister,  who 
has  had  a  majority  of  your  votes  for  years ;  he  has 
had  your  unlimited  and  blind  confidence  ;  he  had  the 
absolute  command  of  all  the  resources  of  the  nation  ; 
he  has  done  what  he  pleased  for  years  past ;  he  has 
within  these  very  few  weeks,  told  you  himself,  and 
advised  the  King  to  tell  you,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  that  your  pecuniary  affairs  were  in  the  most 
flourishing  state,  and  rested  upon  the  most  solid 
foundation  ;  and  this  same  man  now  comes  and  tells 
you,  that  necessity,  that  urgency,  that  something  had 
compelled  him  to  issue  an  Order  to  sanction  the 
stoppage  of  cash  payments  at  the  Bank,  and  to 
oblige  the  public  creditor,  contrary  to  law,  to  receive 
his  dividends  in  paper,  instead  of  the  Gold  and  Sil- 
ver coin  which  the  law  gave  him  a  right  to  demand. 
This,  said  Mr.  Fox  and  his  friends,  is  what  this 
Minister  now  tells  you  ;  andv  will  you  not,  before 
you  proceed  to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of  continu- 
ing the  stoppage,  inquire  into  the  cause  of\  the  im- 
perious necessity  which  is  said  to  have  produced  it? 
Will  you  attempt  an  expedient,  will  you  attempt  a 
remedy,  without  inquiring  into  the  cause  of  the 
evil?  Will  you  do  that,  which,  even  now,  after  all 
that  you  have  seen  and  felt,  shall  prove  to  the  world 
that  your  confidence  is  as  blind  as  ever  ?  "  Have 
any  three  months,  in  the  course  of  this  war,"  said  Mr. 
Fox,  "  passed  without  the  minister's  producing  some 
new  expedient?  and  have  not  all  his  expedients 
proved  erroneous  ?  Year  after  year  he  has  been 
amusing  us  with  predictions  with  respect  to  France, 
which  was  now  on  the  verge  and  now  in  the  gulf  of 
bankruptcy ;  the  assignats  and  the  mandate  could 
not  possibly  continue,  he  said  ;  which  was  very  true, 
but  while  he  was  thus  amusing  us,  he  led  us  to  the 
very  same  verge,  aye,  into  the  very  same  gulf." 
Mr.  HOBHOUSE  said,  "that  the  assurances  of  the 
minister  would  never  beat  down  this  plain  dictate  of 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  191 

common  sense,  that  by  his  conduct  the  Bank  had 
been  obliged  to  commit  an  act  of  insolvency,  by  re- 
fusing specie  for  its  paper,  and,  therefore  he  wished 
for  a  full  inquiry  into  his  conduct."  Mr.  SHERIDAN, 
in  a  most  admirable  speech,  laid  the  whole  matter 
open,  completely  exposed  the  motive  of  the  proposed 
Committee,  and  moved  to  Mr.  PITT'S  motion  an 
amendment,  in  the  following  words,  "  That  the 
Committee  should  inquire  into  the  causes  which  pro- 
duced the  Order  in  Council." 

In  spite,  however,  of  these  speeches  ;  in  spite  of 
all  the  arguments  made  use  of  on  this  side,  and  none 
of  which  met  with  even  an  attempt  at  an  answer 
from  any  one  but  Mr.  PITT  himself :  in  spite  of  all 
this,  the  House  decided,  by  a  majority  of  244  to  88, 
against  Mr.  SHERIDAN'S  amendment,  that  is  to  say, 
against  inquiring  into  the  cause  of  the  alleged  neces- 
sity which  induced  the  Privy  Council  to  issue  an 
order,  sanctioning  a  refusal,  on  the  part  of  the  Bank, 
to  pay  their  promissory  notes  in  Gold  and  Silver. 
The  men,  who  voted  upon  this  occasion,  should  be 
known.  We  have  only  the  names  of  the  Minority 
recorded.  Those  you  will  keep  in  mind,  Gentlemen, 
and,  before  we  have  finished  the  subject,  we  shall 
come  at  the  names  of  the  Majority  ;  or,  at  least,  we 
can  iret  the  names  of  all  the  members  besides  the 
minority.  Mr.  Fox  renewed  the  subject,  on  the  1st 
of  March,  by  a  motion  for  the  appointment  of  a  sepa- 
rate Committee  "  to  inquire  into  the  causes,  which 
produced  the  Order  in  Council  of  the  26th  of  Febru- 
ary," for  the  stoppage  of  cash  payments  at  the  Bank ; 
and  he  was  left  in  a  similar  Minority. 

Here  it  is,  Gentlemen,  that  you  see  the  real  cause 
of  all  the  calamities  that  have  fallen  upon  our  coun- 
try, and  of  all  the  dangers  that  now  threaten  it,  and 
these  afe  dangers  that  will  not  be  frowned  out  of 
countenance,  that  will  not  be  made  to  hide  their  head, 
at  the  sound  of  the  voice  of  men  in  power  ;  dangers 
that  are  not  to  be  talked  or  voted  away.  You  have 
seen  these  dangers  creep  on  upon  us  by  slow  de- 


192  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

grees,  but  you  have  seen  their  pace  to  be  steady. 
They  have  never  stopped.  They  keep  gathering 
about  us  ;  and  he  is  a  very  foolish  man,  who  expects 
any  remedy,  till  the  great  cause  of  the  evil  be  re- 
moved; that  is  to  say,  until  there  shall  take  place  a 
radical  Reform  of  the  Commons'  House  of  Parlia- 
ment, agreeably  to  the  principles  of  the  English 
Constitution,  which  reform,  to  use  the  words  of  the 
Kent  Petition,  is  now  more  than  ever  necessary  to 
the  safety  of  both  the  people  and  the  throne. 

The  motions  for  a  full  inquiry  being  rejected,  the  , 
minister  proceeded  in  his  work  of  getting  a  SE- 
CRET COMMITTEE,  who  were  to  inquire  into 
the  affairs  of  the  Bank,  and  to  report  their  opinion 
relative  to  the  necessity  of  continuing,  by  Act  of 
Parliament,  the  refusal  of  coin  at  the  Bank.  And 
now,  Gentlemen,  I  beg  you  to  observe  well  the  man- 
ner of  appointing  this  Committee.  It  was  to  con- 
sist of  fifteen  members ;  every  member  of  the  House, 
who  was  present,  might  put  fifteen  names  into  a 
box ;  and,  when  all  the  names  were  taken  out,  the 
fifteen  persons  whose  names  appeared  oftenest  upon 
the  tickets  put  in,  were  the  Committee.  Of  course 
that  side  which  had  a  majority  of  tickets  to  put  in 
would  choose  the  members  of  the  Committee.  The 
custom,  indeed,  is,  upon  such  occasions,  to  make  out 
a  List,  and  send  it  round  amongst  the  members,  and 
of  course,  all  those  who  are  on  the  side  of  the 
minister,  will  take  the  Ministerial  List ;  so  that,  in 
fact,  whoever  has  a  majority  in  the  House,  chooses 
the  Committee.  Upon  the  particular  occasion  before 
us,  Mr.  SHERIDAN,  before  the  Report  of  who  were 
the  Committee  was  made  to  the  House,  read  the 
names  of  them  out  loud  in  the  House  ;  and,  when 
the  report  came  to  be  made,  it  appeared  that  his  List 
was  perfectly  correct*  Indeed,  he  had  got  hold  of 

*  List  of  the  Secret  Committee. —  William  Hassey  ;  Wil- 
liam Plumer  ;  Thomas  Powys  ;  Thomas  Grenville;  William 
Wilberforce ;  John  Blackburne ;  Thomas  Berney  Bramp- 
ston ;  Charles  Bragge ;  Sir  John  Mitford,  (Solicitor  General ;) 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  193 

one  of  the  Ministerial  Lists,  and,  of  course,  he  could 
not  be  in  error  in  this  respect. 

But  even  a  Committee,  thus  formed ;  a  Secret 
Committee  chosen  by  the  Ministers  own  party  ; 
even  this  Committee  were,  Mr.  PITT  said,  (See  De- 
bates, 28th  February,)  "  by  no  means  called  upon 
to  push  their  inquiries  into  circumstances,  the  dis- 
closure of  which  would  be  attended  with  temporary 
injury  to  the  credit  of  the  country,  and  with  per- 
manent embarrassment  to  the  operations  of  the 
Bank."  Mr.  PITT  said,  that  his  principal  object  in 
appointing  such  a  Committee  was  to  have  it  ascer- 
tained, that  the  affairs  of  the  Bank  were  in  a  pros- 
perous state  ;  that  the  Bank  had  abundant  means 
to  answer  all  the  demands  upon  it  ;  and  that,  there- 
fore, the  holders  of  bank  notes  ought  to  look  upon  them 
as  being  equally  good  with  Gold  and  Silver.  Now, 
the  way,  and  the  only  way,  to  produce  this  so-much- 
wished-for  conviction  was,  one  would  have  thought, 
to  let  the  .Committee  ascertain  that  the  quantity  oj 
Gold  and  Silver  in  the  Bank  was  sufficient  for  pay- 
ing off  the  notes  ;  or,  at  any  rate,  was  in  a  due  pro- 
portion to  the  notes.  But,  so  far  from  this  being 
done,  the  Committee  did  not  make  any  inquiries  at 
all,  relative  to  the  quantity  of  Gold^and  Silver  in 
the  Bank.  They  merely  inquired  into  the  state  of  the 
books  at  the  Bank,  setting  their  bank  notes  on  one 
side,  and  their  Stock  on  the  other  side.  The  Bank 
said :  We  .owe  the  holders  the  amount  of  our  notes, 
but  the  Government  owes  us  still  more  ;  and  not 
a  word  was  said  about  Gold  and  Silver,  though  one 
would  have  thought,  that  this  was  the  great,  and  in- 
deed, the  only  thing  to  make  inquiry  about ;  espe- 
cially as  Mr.  PAINE,  in  his  pamphlet,  published  the 
year  before,  had  made  statements,  whence  he  had 

William  Wilberforce  Bird  ;  John  Pane  ;  Isaac  Hawkins 
Browne;  Sir  John  Scott,  (Attorney  General;)  John  William 
Anderson. 

The  three, first  had  voted  with  Mr.  Pox  for  a  full  inquiry 
but  all  the  rest  belonged  to  the  party  of  Mr.  Pitt. 
17 


194  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

drawn  a  conclusion,  that  the  hank,  if  put  to  the  test, 
"  had  not  money  to  pay  half  a  crown  in  the  pound." 
This  was  a  charge,  which,  one  would  have  thought, 
it  would  he  the  grand  object  of  the  Minister  and  the 
Bank  to  do  away.  But,  no  such  thing  was  even  at- 
tempted, and  the  two  Reports  of  the  Committee,* 

*  FIRST  REPORT,  March  3,  1797. — The  Committee  appointed 
to  examine  and  state  the  total  amount  of  out-standing  de- 
mands on  the  Bank  of  England,  and  likewise  of  the  Funds 
for  discharging  the  same ;  and  to  report  the  result  thereof  to 
the  House,  together  with  their  opinion  on  the  necessity  of 
providing  for  the  confirmation  and  continuance,  for  a  time  to 
be  limited,  of  measures  taken  in  pursuance  of  the  minute  of 
Council  on  the  26th  of  February  last ;  and  who  are  empowered 
to  report  their  proceedings  from  time  to  time  to  the  House ; 
have,  pursuant  to  the  order  of  the  House,  proceeded  to  examine 
into  the  several  matters  referred  to  their  consideration,  and  have 
unanimously  agreed  upon  the  following  Report,  viz.— Your 
Committee  nave  examined  the  total  amount  of  out-standing 
demands  on  the  Bank  of  England,  and  likewise  of  the  Funds 
for  discharging  the  same ;  and  think  it  their  duty,  without 
loss  of  time,  to  state  those  total  amounts,  and  to  report  the 
result  thereof  to  the  House. — Your  Committee  find,  upon  such 
examination,  that  the  total  amount  of  out-standing  demands 
on  the  Bank,  on  the  25th  of  February  last,  (to  which  day  the 
accounts  could  be  completely  made  up)  was  13,770,390Z. ; 
and  that  the  total  amount  of  the  Funds  for  discharging  those 
demands  (not  including  the  permanent  debt  due  from  Go- 
vernment of  11,686,800^.,  which  bears  an  interest  of  three  per 
cent.)  was  on  the  same  25th  day  of  February  last  17,597,2?OZ. ; 
and  that  the  result  is,  that  there  was,  on  the  25th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary last,  a  surplus  of  effects  belonging  to  the  Bank,  beyond 
the  amount  of  their  debts,  amounting  to  the  sum  of  3,826, 890Z. 
exclusiveof  the  above-mentioned  permanent  debt  of  11,686,SOO/. 
due  from  Government.  And  your  Committee  further  repre- 
sent, that  since  the  25th  of  February  last  considerable  issues 
have  been  made  by  the  Bank  in  bank  notes,  both  upon  Gov- 
ernment securities  and  in  discounting  bills,  the  particulars 
of  which  could  not  immediately  be  made  up;  but  as  those 
issues  appear  to  your  Committee  to  have  been  made  upon 
corresponding  securities,  taken  with  the  usual  care  and  at- 
tention, the  actual  balance  in  favour  of  the  Bank  did  not 
appear  to  your  Committee  to  have  been  thereby  diminished. 

SECOND  REPORT,  Tuesday,  7th  March.— Mr.  Brampston 
brought  up  the  following  Report  : 

The  Committee  appointed  to  examine  and  state  the  total 
amount  of  out-standing  demands  on  the  Bank  of  England, 
and  likewise  of  the  Funds  for  discharging  the  same ;  and  to 
report  the  result  thereof  to  the  House,  together  with  their 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  195 

did  accordingly  not  at  all  tend  to  the  restoration  of 
that  sort  of  confidence,  which  would  have  enabled 
the  Bank  to  open  its  doors  to  the  applicants  for 
Guineas.  It  was  in  vain  that  Mr.  PITT  told  the 
House,  that  the  reports  of  the  Secret  Committee  were 
highly  consoling  ;  that  the  affairs  of  the  Bank  were 
in  a  most  prosperous  state  ;  that  persons  most  con- 
versant (alluding  to  the  Mansion  House  Resolvers) 
believed  in  the  solidity  of  its  means  ;  that  the  public 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  internal  economy  of  the 
Bank;  that  it  was  sufficient  for  the  public  to  know, 
that  the  corporation  was  a  rich  corporation  ;  that  the 
solidity  of  the  Bank  was  asserted  in  the  report  of  the 
Secret  Committee  then  on  the  table ;  that  that  report 
left  no  doubt  upon  the  subject ;  that  it  was  an  impor- 
tant consolation,  that  there  were  funds  amply  suffi- 
cient for  the  ultimate  security  of  those  who  could  not 
have  their  demands  satisfied  for  a  time  ;  and  that  as 
to  what  was  due  from  the  Government  to  the  Bank, 
it  rested  upon  the  best  possible  security,  because  it 
rested  upon  the  aggregate  powers  of  the  country. 
(See  Debates,  9th  March,  1797.)  In  vain  did  Lord 
Hawkesbury,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Fox,  deny  that  the 
term  Bankruptcy  applied  to  the  situation  of  the 
Bank  or  the  Government.  He  said,  what  was  very 
true,  that  the  embarrassments  of  the  Bank  were  im- 
puted to  the  scarcity  or  want  of  specie.  But,  in 
vain  did  he  question  the  truth  of  this  proposition ;  in 
vain  did  he  say  that  a  scarcity  of  guineas  might  rise 

opinion  on  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the  confirmation 
and  continuance,  for  a  time  to  be  limited,  of  measures  taken 
in  pursuance  of  the  Minute  of  Council  on  the  26th  of  February 
last ;  and  who  were  empowered  to  report  their  proceedings 
from  time  to  time  to  the  House  ;  have  further  examined  into 
the  several  matters  referred  to  their  consideration ;  and  have 
agreed  to^report  to  the  House ; — That,  in  their  opinion,  it  is 
necessary to  provide  for  the  confirmation  and  continuance,  for 
a  time  to  be  limited,  of  the  measures  taken  in  pursuance  of 
the  Order  of  Council  on  the  2Gth  of  February  last ;  submit- 
ting to  the  wisdom  of  Parliament  to  determine  for  what  li- 
mited time  it  may  be  necessary  that  those  measures  should 
be  continued. 


196  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

from  an  increase  of  trade,  and  not  from  the  excess 
of  paper,  (Debate  9th  March,  1797  ;)  in  vain  did 
Sir  John  Mitford,  then  Solicitor  General  (same  De- 
bate) say  that  no  man,  however  rich,  would  be  able 
to  stand  a  run  ;  that  it  was  unfair  to  call  the  stop- 
page a  Bankruptcy ;  that  the  Bank  was  solvent,  al- 
though at  this  time  unable  to  pay  in  cash ;  that  the 
refusal  to  pay  in  cash  could  not  be  called  a  fraud, 
because  the  public  knew  that  such  an  event  might 
happen  ;  that  the  stoppage  at  the  Bank  was  like 
that  which  might  be  enforced  by  the  door  keepers  of 
a  theatre,  upon  a  false  alarm  of  fire,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  people  from  rushing  out  all  at  once,  to  their 
destruction  or  injury ;  that  if  nothing  had  been  done 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  run  upon  the  Bank,  the  Bank 
must  have  been  totally  ruined  ;  that  there  were  other 
public  creditors  besides  the  Stock-holders,  the  army 
and  the  navy  ;  that  they  were  as  much  public  cre- 
ditors as  the  holders  of  bank  notes  could  be,  and 
that  they  required  payment  in  cash  more  so  than  any 
other  description  of  men  in  this  country. 

In  vain  was  all  this  said.  Mr.  GREY,  (now  Earl 
Grey,)  said  that  the  evidence  brought  before  the 
Committee  had  not  satisfied  him ;  and  the  satisfac- 
tion to  the  public  was  evidently  not  greater ;  for,  if 
it  had  been  satisfactory,  or  if  the  report  of  the  Secret 
Committee  had  been  satisfactory,  there  could  have 
been  no  occasion  whatever  for  continuing  the  power 
of  the  Bank  to  refuse  payment  in  specie.  This  was 
told  them  by  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  SHERIDAN,  who  asked  : 
if  the  Bank  be  in  so  prosperous  a  situation  as  you  say 
it  is,  why  do  you  wish  to  pass  a  law  to  protect  them 
against  the  demands  of  the  holders  of  their  notes  ? 
If  the  Bank  be  so  rich  as  you  say  it  is,  what 
need  has  it  of  your  assistance  ?  You  tell  us,  said 
Mr.  SHERIDAN  (alluding  to  the  speech  of  Lord 
Hawkesbury)  that  paper  "  is  not  only  a  cleaner, 
neater,  and  more  portable  medium  to  represent  pro- 
perty ;  but  that  it  is  the  very  essen-ce  of  wealth  it- 
self, and  that  the  flourishing  state  of  our  commerce 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  197 

is  the  cause  of  this  inability  to  produce  specie  to 
answer  demands  upon  the  Bank  of  England.1'  See 
Debate  of  9th  March,  where  these  observations  are  fol- 
lowed up  by  an  inimitable  instance  of  what  is  called 
by  logicians  the  reductio  ad  absurdum.  You  tell 
us,  said  he,  that  the  public  are  of  your  opinion,  and 
that  they  reject  our  opinion;  you  tell  us  that  the 
public  are  satisfied  with  the  report  of  the  Committee ; 
you  tell  us  that  the  public  like  bank  notes  as  well  as 
guineas.  But,  with  these  assertions  upon  your  lips, 
you  pass  a  law  to  protect  the  Bank  against  the  de- 
mands of  that  public ;  you  pass  a  law  to  compel 
that  public  to  receive  paper  at  the  Bank,  instead  of 
that  gold,  which  you  say  they  like  no  better  than  that 
paper. 

The  truth  is,  Gentlemen,  the  public,  generally 
speaking,  knew  nothing  at  all  about  the  transactions 
between  the  Government  and  the  Bank;  they  knew 
nothing  at  all  about  the  trade  or  the  property  of  the 
Bank ;  they  knew  that  they  held  promissory  notes 
issued  by  the  Bank,  payable  to  the  bearer  on  demand, 
and  they  looked  upon  these  notes  as  being  equally 
valuable  with  gold,  because,  until  now,  they  could, 
at  any  time,  carry  them  to  the  Bank,  and  receive 
gold  in  exchange  for  them.  Nothing,  therefore,  could 
have  the  smallest  tendency  to  convince  them  of  the 
solidity  of  the  Bank,  unless  it,  at  the  same  time, 
tended  to  convince  them,  that  there  was  gold  in  the 
Bank,  sufficient  to  answer  the  demands  of  those  who 
presented  notes  for  payment,  or  who  chose  to  de- 
mand gold  in  payment  of  their  dividends,  or  interest 
upon  their  Stock.  And  not  a  particle  of  conviction, 
in  this  way,  were  the  reports  of  the  Secret  Com- 
mittee calculated  to  produce. 

Mr.  SHERIDAN  (see  Debate  28th  February,  1797) 
said  that  he  was  "  convinced  that  if  the  Bank  was 
not  able  to  resume  its  payments  immediately,  he 
foresaw  it  never  would  be  able  afterwards  to  de- 
fray its  out-standing  engagements  in  cash."  And  the 
reason  he  gave  was  that  the  suspension  of  cash  pay- 
17* 


198  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

merits  would  produce  the  issue  of  a  greater  quantity 
of  paper.  This  reason  was  so  manifest,  that  it  was 
impossible  that  the  truth  of  it  should  not  be  felt, 
though  owing  to  the  prejudices  of  the  times,  there 
were  few  persons  amongst  the  Merchants  and  Bank- 
ers, by  whom  it  would  be  acknowledged.  The  same 
Was  said  by  Mr.  NICHOLLS  and  Mr.  HOBHOUSE,  in 
whose  speeches,  together  with  those  of  Mr.  Fox  and 
Mr.  SHERIDAN,  will  be  found  predictions  of  all  the 
consequences  which  have  already  flowed,  and  which 
are  likely  to  flow,  from  the  stoppage  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver payments  at  the  Bank. 

We  have  now  seen  enough  of  the  measures  which 
were,  adopted  as  forerunners  of  the  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment relating  to  the  Bank  Stoppage  ;  and,  in  my  next 
Letter,  I  shall,  I  flatter  myself,  be  able  to  present 
you  with  a  complete,  though  a  very  concise,  view  of 
those  Acts,  with  which  every  man  in  this  country 
ought  to  be  thoroughly  acquainted.  In  the  mean 
while,  I  remain, 

Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  friend, 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday ',  November  1st,  181CL 


LETTER  XV. 


41  When  the  situation  of  the  Bank  of  England  was  under  the  consideration  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  in  the  year  1797.  it  was  my  opinion,  and 
that  of  many  others,  that  the  extent  to  lohich  Paper  currency  had  been 
carried,  was  the  first  and  principal,  though  not  the  sole  cause  of  the  many 
difficulties,  to  which  that  corporate  body  was  then,  and  had  of  late  years, 
from  time  to  lime  been  exposed,  in  supplying  the  Cash  occasionally  neces- 
sary for  the  commerce  of  the  Kingdom  ;  for  the  Bank  of  England  being  at 
the  head  of  all  circulation,  and  the  great  repository  of  unemployed  cash, 
it  necessarily  happens,  that  whenever  a  sudden  increased  supply  of  Coin 
becomes  indispensable,  in  consequence  of  private  failures  or  general  dis- 
credit, by  which  Notes  of  the  before-mentioned  description  are  driven  out 
of  circulation,  the  Bank  of  England  can  alone  furnish  the  coins  which 
are  required  to  -make  up  this  deficiency,  and  this  corporate  body  is  there- 
by rendered  responsible,  not  only  for  the  value  of  its  own  noAvwhieh  it 
may  have  issued,  but,  in  a  certain  decree,  for  such  HS  may  be  issued  by 
every  private  Banker  in  the  Kingdom,  Jet  the  substance,  credit,  or  dis- 
cretion of  such  a  Banker  be  what  it  may."— Late  Earl  of  Liverpool. 
Letter  to  the  King.  Published  in  1805. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  199 

"  The  quantity  of  Cash  in  the  Bank  can  never,  on  the  evidence  of  these  cir- 
cumstances, be  so  much  as  two  millions  ;  most  probably  not  more  than 
one  million  ;  and  on  this  slender  twig  hangs  the  whole  funding  system  of 
four  hundred  millions,  besides  many  millions  of  bank  notes.  The  sum  in 
the  Bank,  if  Mr.  Chalmers  be  correct,  is  nut  sufficient  to  pay  one  fourth 
of  only  one  year's  interest  of  the  national  debt,  were  the  creditors  to  de- 
mand payment  in  Cash,  or  to  demand  Cash  for  the  Bank  Notes  in  which 
the  interest  is  paid.  A  circumstance  always  liable  to  happen."— Pain*. 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  English  System  of  Finance.  Published  in  1795. 

A  more  minute  View  of  the  Affairs  of  the  Bank  necessary — 
State  of  the  Case  between  the  Bank  and  the  People— The 
Property  of  the  Bank  — The  Statement  of  Debts  and  Cre- 
dits in  the  Report  of  the  Secret  Committee — The  Bank  ren- 
ders its  own  Account— The  more  detailed  Statement  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Allerdyce — The  Property  of  the  Bank  is  in 
Paper  and  not  in  Specie — Amount  of  the  Bank  notes  com- 
pared with  the  Cash — The  great  Question  was,  what  Cash 
and  Bullion  there  was  in  the  Bank — Mr.  Paine's  Opinion 
founded  upon  the  Estimate  of  Mr.  Eden  and  Mr.  Chalmers 
— Error  in  supposing  that  the  Minister  took  Specie  out  of 
the  Bank  to  send  it  abroad— Mr.  Pitt's  answer  to  Mr.  Hob- 
house  and  Mr.  Hussey— Mr*.  Pitt's  Argument  verifying  the 
Opinion  of  Mr.  Paine — The  whole  become  a  System  of 
Paper. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  the  foregoing  Letter,  (at  pages  194  and  195,) 
we  have  seen  the  Reports  of  the  Secret  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  relative,  FIRST,  to  the 
state  of  the  Bank's  Affairs ;  and,  SECOND,  relative  to 
the  continuance  of  refusal  of  Cash  payments  at  the 
Bank.  We  shall  next  take  a  view  of  the  ACTS, 
passed  by  the  Parliament,  upon  this  memorable  oc- 
casion ;  not,  however,  till  we  have  looked  a  little 
more  minutely  into  the  state  of  the  Bank's  Affairs. 

It  was  before  observed,  that  the  Committee,  that 
even  a  Secret  Committee,  and  that  Committee,  ap- 
pointed, too,  in  the  manner  that  we  have  seen  (at 
page  192  ;)  that  even  a  Committee  like  this  were  not 
permitted  (to  use  the  phrase  of  Pitt)  to  "  push  their 
inquiries  into  circumstances,  the  disclosure  of  which 
would  he  attended  with  injury  to  public  credit." 
Accordingly,  not  a  word  do  this  Committee  say  about 
the  quantity  of  Gold  and  Silver  in  theBank,  though 
the  great,  and,  indeed,  the  only  cause  of  the  Stop- 
page, and  of  the  whole  of  these  proceedings,  was, 


200  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  alarm  felt  by  the  Directors  at  the  daily  decrease 
in  their  Gold  and  Silver.  The  question,  and  the 
only  question  of  any  importance  to  the  people,  that 
is  to  say,  to  the  holders  of  the  bank  notes,  was  :  "  Is 
there  a  quantity  of  real  money  in  the  Bank  sufficient 
to  pay  us  the  amount  of  our  notes,  when  we  may 
choose  to  present  them  for  payment  ?"  This  was 
the  question,  to  which  the  people  wanted  an  answer; 
but  with  nothing  relating  to  this  question,  were  the 
Committee  to  meddle.  This  question  was,  with  as- 
surance unparalleled,  said  to  belong  wholly  to  the 
"private  economy  of  the  Bank,  with  which  the  pub- 
lie  had  nothing  at  all  to  do." 

Surely  nothing  ever  was  heard  so  impudent  as 
this.  The  holders  of  the  bank  notes,  the  creditors 
of  the  Bank  Company,  the  creditors  of  this  company 
of  Merchants,  carry  their  notes  and  demand  payment; 
the  Company  of  Merchants  apply  to  the  Minister, 
and  he  obtains  from  the  Privy  Council  an  Order  to 
authorise  the  Company  to  refuse  to  pay  the  just  and 
lawful  demands  of  their  creditors,  and  then  the 
Minister,  when  he  comes  to  the  Parliament  for  an 
Act  to  sanction  and  to  continue  this  refusal,  tells  the 
House  of  Commons,  that  even  a  Secret  Committee 
of  them,  though  chosen  as  we  have  seen,  are  not  to 
push  their  inquiries  into  circumstances,  the  dis- 
closure of  which  might  injure  the  credit  of  the  Bank; 
and  yet  he  has  the  face  to  say,  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  report  of  this  Committee  cannot  fail  to  satisfy 
the  country  of  the  ability  of  the  Bank  to  pay  all  its 
out  standing  demands. 

Gentlemen,  we  will  now  look  a  little  more  minutely 
into  that  report.  It  states,  that  the  Government 
owes  the  Bank  Company  £11,686,800,  which  bears 
an  interest  of  three  per  cent ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
the  Bank  Company,  like  our  neighbour  GRIZZLE 
GREENHORN,  is  a  Stock-holder  and  has  its  name  writ- 
ten in  the  GREAT  BOOK  ;  which  Great  Book,  you 
will  bear  in  mind,  is  kept  at  the  Bank  itself,  and  the 
interest  upon  the  said  stock  is  paid  by  the  Bank  Com- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  201 

pany  to  the  Bank  Company,  and  in  bank  notes  made 
at  the  order  of  the  Bank  Company  !     This  was  all 
very  fine,  to  be  sure ;  but,  it  certainly  did  not  go  one 
inch  towards  convincing  the  holder  of  a  bank  note, 
that  the  Bank  was  able  to  pay  him  in  Gold  or 
Silver.     The  Committee  next  state  the  means  and 
the  Debts  of  the  Bank,  as  follows  : 
Total  amount  of  the  Funds  of  the  Bank 
(exclusive   of  debt  due  to  it    from 
the  Government  of  £11,686,800)  on 

the  25th  of  Feb.,  1797 £17,597,280 

Total  amount  of  outstanding  demands 
upon  the  Bank  on  the  25th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1797 13.770,390 

Surplus  in  favour  of  the  Bank    .     .    .        3,826,890 

This  was  all  very  fine  again  ;  but  what  was  it  to 
the  public  ?  What  was  it  to  the  holders  of  the  bank 
notes,  who  wanted  Gold  for  them  ?  Besides,  whence 
came  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  ?  The  proofs 
of  a  trader's  solvency  are  not,  I  believe,  generally 
left  to  himself.  The  Bank  Company  had  stopped 
payment,  and,  when  an  inquiry  was  taking  place  into 
the  state  of  its  affairs  and  especially  with  regard  to  its 
ability  to  pay,  how  comes  it  that  the  inquirers  were 
content  with  its  own  statement  and  its  own  story  ? 
This  is  not  the  way  that  inquiries  are  made  into 
the  affairs  of  other  traders,  when  they  stop  payment. 
Mr.  GREY,  as  we  have  seen  before,  (See  Debate  of 
9th  of  March,  1797,)  said  that,  though  one  of  the 
Secret  Committee,  the  evidence  had  not  satisfied 
him  ;  and,  indeed,  what  was  this  report  more  or  less 
than  the  Bank's  presentation  of  the  state  of  its  own 
affairs-. 

But  supposing  the  statement  to  be  correct,  still 
what  was  there  to  satisfy  the  people  of  the  country  ; 
what  to  satisfy  the  holders  of  the  notes,  that  the 
Bank  was  able  to  pay  those  notes,  that  is  to  say,  to 
give  gold  and  silver  for  them.  For  as  to  payment 


202 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 


in  any  other  way,  it  is  nonsense  to  talk  of  it.  What 
was  there,  in  this  Report,  then,  to  cause  it  to  be  be- 
lieved, that  the  Bank  was  able  to  pay  its  notes  ? 
Here  is  very  big  talk ;  high-sounding  words,  and 
more  high-sounding  figures  ;  but  if  we  put  them  to 
the  scrutiny,  we  find  nothing  at  all  in  them :  we 
find  not  the  smallest  circumstance  to  induce  any 
holder  of  a  bank  note  to  suppose,  that  the  Bank  is,  or 
ever  will  be,  able  to  pay  that  note  off,  agreeably  to 
the  promise,  expressed  upon  the  face  of  it. 

The  statement,  however,  from  which,  it  appears, 
the  Secret  Committee  made  up  their  Report,  was 
more  in  detail.  This  statement  was  afterwards 
given  to  the  public  by  Mr.  ALLERDYCE,  a  member  of 
the  then  Parliament,  and  a  person  who  constantly 
voted  with  the  Minister.  The  statement  thus  given 
was  as  follows : 

STATE   OF  THE  FINANCES   OF  THE   BANK   OP 
ENGLAND,  FEB.  25,  1797. 


Particulars  of  Debt  A 
Drawing   Account    . 
Exchequer  Bills    .    . 
Unpn  id  Dividends  .    . 
Unpaid     dividends,     i 
Bank  Stock    .    .    . 
Do.  in  India  annuities 
Sundries  unclaimed 
Due  from  Cash  on  th 
loan  of  1797     .    . 
Unpaid  Irish  Dividend 
Do.  on    Imperial  Loan 

Bank  notes  in  circulation 

ccount. 
/.2,3S9,600 
1,676,000 
983,730 

45,150 
10,210 
1,330 

17,060 
1,460 
5,600 

5,130,140 
8,640,250 

13,770,390 
3,825,830 

17,597,280 

Particulars  of  Credit 
Bills     and    Notes    dis- 
counted.    Cash     and 
Bullion     
Exchequer  Bills    .    .    . 
Lands  and  Tenements  . 
Money  lent  to  India  Com- 
pany    ..... 
Stamps     
Navy    and   Victualling 
Bills 

Account. 

4,176,080 

8,228,000 
65,000 

700,000 
1,510 

15,890 
54,150 
5,320 
24,150 
795,800 
1,000,000 

1,512,270 
376,000 
88,120 

740 

554,250 
•17,597,230 

American  Debentures     . 
Petty  Cash  in   House    . 
Sundry   articles     .    .    . 
5  per  Cent  annuities 
5  per  Cents  1797    .    .    . 
Treasury  bills  paid  for 
the  Government    .    . 
Loan  to  Government     . 
Bills  discounted  unpaid 
Treasury  and  Exchequer 
fees   
Interest  due  on  different 
Loans     advanced    to 
Government  .... 

*  To  convert  these  sums  into  United  States  Money,  see 
page  44. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  £03 

Now  what  is  all  this  ?  Why,  it  is,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  three  of  the  items,  a  mere  account  of 
paper  between  the  Government  and  the  Bank,  and 
in  which  the  people,  who  held  the  bank  notes,  could 
have  no  interest  whatever.  The  Bank  held  Ex- 
chequer Bills,  and  Navy  and  Victualling  Bills,  and 
had  lent  money  (that  is  to  say  bank  notes)  to  the 
East  India  Company,  and  had  five  per  cent,  stock, 
and  Treasury  Bills,  and  had  interest  due  upon  loans; 
all  which  might  be  very  well  for  the  Bank,  but  what 
was  it  to  a  man,  who  held  a  bank  note  and  who  could 
not  get  payment  for  it  when  he  presented  it  to  the 
Bank?  These  fine  articles  of  credit  were  very  good 
for  the  Bank  Company ;  but  what  good  were  they 
to  'SQUIRE  GULL,  who,  being  alarmed  at  the  pros- 
pect of  a  Jacobin  invasion,  wished,  in  spite  of  his 
loyalty,  to  turn  his  bank  notes  into  guineas  ?  What 
use  were  they  to  our  neighbour  GRIZZLE  GREENHORN, 
who  now  wished,  of  course,  to  put  by  a  few  guineas, 
and  who,  of  course,  wished  to  receive  her  dividends 
in  gold,  to  prevent  her  from  doing  which  by  law, 
this  very  report  was  a  preliminary  step?  What 
consolation  was  Grizzle  to  draw  from  this  account 
of  debts  due  from  the  Government  to  the  Bank,  es- 
pecially when  it  was  clear,  that,  if  the  Government 
ever  paid  the  Bank,  it  must  pay  it  in  bank  notes, 
seeing  that  in  bank  notes  the  taxes  were  now  paid  ? 

The  three  items  to  which  the  people  would  look, 
were  those  expressing,  on  one  side,  the  amount  of 
the  bank  notes  in  circulation  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the 
amount  of  the  cash,  or  coin  and  bullion  in  the  Bank 
Compamfs  House,  commonly  called  the  Bank.  Ac- 
cordingly to  the  above  statement  these  were  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1797,  as  follow*; : 
Amount  of  Bank  Notes  in  circulation  ....  £8,640,250 

Bills  and  Notes  discounted,  Cash  and  Bullion    .       4,176  080 
Petty  Cash  in  the  House 5,3-20 

4,181,400 


Difference 4,453,850 


204  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

But,  who  is  to  say  how  much  the  Bills  and  Notes 
discounted  amounted  to?  Who  is  to  answer,  that 
they  did  not  make  one  half;  who  is  to  say,  that  they 
did  not  make  nine  tenths  of  the  sum  of  £4,176,080  ? 
Why  was  the  amount  of  the  cash  and  bullion  hud- 
dled up  in  one  sum  along  with  the  amount  of  Bills 
and  Notes  discounted  !  Why  were  things  so  differ- 
ent in  their  nature  confounded  together  ?  If  GRIZ- 
ZLE GREENHORN  wanted  her  bank  notes  paid  at  the 
Bank,  she  would  not  take  discounted  bills  in  pay- 
ment. What  the  nation  wanted  to  see,  was,  how 
much  the  Bank  had  of  that  sort  of  thing^  in  which 
bank  notes  could  be  paid  ;  how  much  it  had  of  that 
sort  of  thing,  the  value  of  which  no  invasion  or  re- 
volution would  destroy :  how  much  it  had  of  that 
sort  of  thing,  in  which  it  had  promised  to  pay  upon 
demand  the  bearers  of  its  notes ;  how  much,  in 
short,  it  had  of  MONEY,  and  not  of  bills  and  notes 
discounted,  with  which  the  people  had  nothing  at 
all  to  do,  there  being  no  man  of  common  sense,  who 
could  care  a  straw  about  how  much  of  its  paper  the 
Bank  gave  to  others  for  their  paper,  so  that  he  got 
guineas  for  his  bank  notes  ;  and,  if  he  could  not  get 
this,  what  consolation  was  it  to  him  to  know,  that 
the  Bank  had  lent  but  little  of  its  paper  to  the  mer- 
chants ? 

As  to  the  exact  quantity  of  cash  and  bullion  in 
the  Bank,  when  the  stoppage  took  place,  Mr.  ALLER- 
DYCE  gives  a  table,  showing  the  amount  at  stated  pe- 
riods, for  several  years,  according  to  which  Table, 
the  total  amount  of  the  cash  and  bullion  in  the  Bank, 
at  the  time  of  the  Stoppage,  was  1,272,000/.  Aye, 
ONE  MILLION,  TWO  HUNDRED  AND  SE- 
VENTY-TWO THOUSAND  POUNDS.  He 
comes  at  this  sum  thus.  The  Bank  of  England  have 
Numbers^  to  denote  their  quantity  of  cash  and  bul- 
lion. When  they  submitted  their  accounts  to  Par- 
liament, in  1797,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  keep  the 
amount  of  the  cash  and  bullion  a  secret  from  Par- 
liament and  the  public.  They,  therefore,  only  gave 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  205 

the  Numbers  for  distinct  periods  in  several  years, 
in  order  to  show  the  proportionate  increase  or  dimi- 
nution of  the  cash  and  bullion.  From  these  Num- 
bers, however,  a  discovery  was,  it  is  said,  made,  and 
the  sum  above-named,  ascertained  to  be  the  amount 
of  the  cash  and  bullion  in  the  Bank  at  the  time  of 
the  Stoppage.  But  upon  this,  I  wish  to  place  no  re- 
liance ;  nor  do  I  care,  whether  the  statement  above 
given,  of  cash  and  bullion,  and  discounted  bills  be 
correct,  or  not.  These  are  things  of  inferior  conse- 
quence compared  with  the  great  and  well-known 
facts  ;  namely,  that  no  proof  was  produced,  or  at- 
tempted to  be  produced,  that  ihe  Bank  Company  had 
gold  or  silver,  or  both  together,  sufficient  to  pay  its 
promissory  notes  ;  and  that  no  account  was  rendered 
to  the  Parliament  of  the  amount  of  the  cash  and  bul- 
lion in  the  Bank. 

Mr.  PAINE  had,  only  the  year  before,  said,  in  the 
words  of  my  motto,  that  the  quantity  of  cash  in  the 
Bank  could  never,  on  the  evidence  of  circumstances, 
be  so  much  as  two  millions,  and  most  probably,  not 
more  than  one  million  ;  that,  on  this  slender  twig,  al- 
ways liable  to  be  broken,  hung  the  whole  funding  sys- 
tem of  four  hundred  millions,  besides  many  millions  in 
bank  notes ;  that  the  sum  in  the  Bank  was  not  sufficient 
to  pay  one  fourth  of  only  one  year's  interest  of  the  Na- 
tional Debt,  were  the  creditors  to  demand  payment  in 
cash,  or  to  demand  cash  for  the  bank  notes  in  which  the 
interest  is  paid:  a  circumstance  always  liable  to  hap- 
pen. Mr.  PAINE  founded  this  opinion  upon  a  state- 
ment of  Mr.  EDEN  (now  Lord  AUCKLAND)  and  Mr. 
CHALMERS,  Clerk  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  who  had 
given  an  account,  or  rather,  an  estimate,  of  the  gold 
coin  circulating  in  the  kingdom ;  and,  it  is  truly  sur- 
prising to  observe  how  near  Mr.  PAINE  was  to  the 
exact  truth  as  to  this  point,  though  at  the  time  when 
his  pamphlet  was  published,  its  calculations  and  pre- 
dictions were  treated  with  scorn,  and  the  work  itself 
was  ascribed  to  a  malicious  desire  to  cause  the  ruin 
of  England  ;  just  as  if  it  were  in  the  power  of  PAINE, 
18 


206  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

or  of  any  one  else,  to  injure  the  credit  of  a  nation; 
or,  as  if  any  thing  but  the  want,  the  real  want  of  the 
gold  and  bullion  could  shake  the  faith  of  the  public 
in  such  an  establishment  as  that  o'f  the  Bank.  PAINE 
might  have  written  'till  this  time  without  persuading 
any  one  that  a  guinea  was  a  thing  not  to  be  relied 
upon.  He  never  would  haye  written  people  out  ol 
their  belief  in  the  goodness  of  guineas.  And,  it 
the  Bank  had  stood  a  run  for  only  one  week,  he 
might  have  written  his  pen  to  the  stump,  but  would 
not  have  shaken  the  people's  confidence.  Credit 
that  has  a  solid  foundation  need  fear  no  assaults. 

At  the  time  when  this  subject  was  under  discus- 
sion in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Minister  was 
charged,  by  the  Opposition,  with  having  taken  the 
money  from  the  Bank  and  sent  it  abroad  in  sub- 
sidies. This  was  certainly  a  very  great  error,  or, 
it  was  made  use  of  for  the  purpose  of  annoying  the 
Minister  at  the  expense  of  truth.  I  am,  however, 
disposed  to  attribute  it  to  error ;  for,  it  was  urged  in 
such  a  manner,  and  by  such  persons,  as  to  obviate 
all  suspicion  of  its  being  a  mere  party  weapon.  Mr. 
HOBHOUSE  (Debate  2Sth  February,  1797,)  said,  that 
he  suspected  that  the  money  had  been  buried  in 
Germany,  and  not  by  the  people  of  England,  in 
dread  of  invasion.  And  Mr.  HUSSEY,  said,  that  the 
Minister  "  had  laid  his  rapacious  hands  upon  the 
su.ns  destined  for  the  payment  of  the  public  cre- 
ditor. He  knew  that  the  public  creditors  had  been 
refused  their  just  demands.  He  had  witnessed  the 
truth  of  this  woeful  circumstance  himself.  He  had 
been  told  by  a  person  who  had  applied  for  payment, 
that,  in  payment  of  a  sum  of  twenty- three  pounds, 
three  pounds  in  cash  had  been  offered,  and  the  rest 
only  in  notes.  Such  a  melancholy  day  as  this  for 
England  he  had  hoped  never  to  live  to  see.  Let  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  pay  the  ten  millions 
Government  owed  the  Bank,  and  then  it  would  be 
able  to  fulfil  all  its  engagements.  It  was  not  that 
the  Bank  was  unable  to  satisfy  its  creditors,  but  it 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  207 

was  the  continued  demand  of  money  to  feed  the  ex- 
penses of  this  ruinous  and  disastrous  war,  which 
rendered  it  unjust  to  those  who  depended  upon  its 
credit." 

Mr.  PITT,  who  seemed  to  have  avoided  this  point 
with  all  his  care,  and  who,  as  I  once  heard  Mr. 
WINDHAM  describe  him,  was  so  dexterous  in  the  se- 
lection and  use  of  words,  as  to  be  able  "  to  speak  a 
King's  speech  off-hand,"  could  not  remain  longer  si- 
lent under  this  attack.  He  had  been  told  nearly  the 
same  by  Mr.  SHERIDAN  ;  but  he  seemed  to  be  willing 
to  take  the  chance  of  that  being  ascribed  to  party 
motives.  When,  however,  he  heard  the  same  se- 
riously urged  by  Mr.  HUSSEY,  and  saw  that  the  no- 
tion was  making  its  way  amongst  the  public,  and,  of 
course,  that  the  whole  of  the  calamity  would  be  as- 
scribed  to  him  and  his  Anti-Jacobin  war,  he  could 
no  longer  refrain  from  declaring  what  was  the  na- 
ture of  the  property  of  the  Bank,  and  to  avow,  that 
the  whole  of  its  transactions  with  Government,  or 
nearly  so,  were  transactions  of  paper -,  a  fact  of  which 
the  country  had,  till  that  moment,  been  in  complete 
ignorance. 

He  said  that  Mr.  HUSSEY  was  wholly  in  error,  to 
suppose  that  the  Bank  made  advances  to  the  Govern- 
ment in  specie ;  he  said,  that  the  advances  were 
made  in  notes^  and  paid  in  the  same  manner ;  that, 
if  the  Government  were  to  raise  money  and  pay  the 
Bank,  the  Bank  would  not  thereby  be  supplied  with 
an  additional  guinea  in  cash  ;  that  the  taxes  were 
not  paid  in  specie  ;  that  loans  were  advanced  with- 
out any  expectation  of  re-payment  in  specie  ;  that 
the  Bank  never  had  it  in  contemplation,  that  every 
quarterly  dividend  was  to  be  paid  in  cash;  that  the 
receipt  of  the  revenue  was  in  paper,  and  that  the 
whole  "of  Mr.  HUSSEY'S  observations  were  entirely 
founded  in  mistake. 

Mr.  SHERIDAN,  in  answer  to  this,  said,  that  the 
deficiency,  or  inability,  at  the  Bank  arose,  not  merely 
from  the  positive  want  of  cash,  but  from  the  dispro- 


208  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

portion  between  the  quantity  of  cash,  and  the  quan- 
tity of  paper;  and,  of  course,  that  if  their  lent  paper 
was  returned  to  them,  they  would  find  themselves 
at  liberty  to  issue  more  of  their  specie.  This  would 
have  been  true  in  a  state  of  things  where  the  differ- 
ence between  the  quantity  of  specie  and  the  quan- 
tity of  paper  was  less  ;  but  in  the  present  case,  it 
was  too  great  for  confidence  to  be  restored,  and,  of 
course,  for  the  Ba^ik  to  return  to  its  payments  in  cash. 
Mr.  PITT'S  aimver  was  complete.  It  was  the  plain 
truth,  which  he  wcs  obliged  to  bring  out,  in  order  to 
divide  the  blame  with  the  Bank.  He  was  told  to 
borrow  and  to  pay  the  Bank  what  he  owed  them. 
What  good  will  that  do,  said  he,  when  my  loan  will 
consist  of  bank  notes,  and  I  must  pay  the  Bank  in 
those  notes  ?  He  was  told  to  raise  the  sum  in  taxes, 
and  so  pay  the  Bank.  What  good  will  that  do,  said 
he,  when  my  taxes  ^Ul  consist  of  bank  notes,  and 
I  must  pay  the  Bank  in  those  notes  ?  The  answer 
was  complete  towards  h\r-  adversaries  in  debate,  and 
not  less  complete  as  a  drrno.lisher  of  his  own  repu- 
tation as  a  Minister  of  finance.  He  now  said  pre- 
cisely what  Mr.  PAINE  had  said  the  year  before ;  he 
now  confirmed  with  his  ovn  lips,  what  PAINE  had 
been  so  abused  for  saying.*  He  appears  clearly  to 

*  I  speak  here  of  those  writings  merely  of  Mr.  PAINE, 
which  relate  to  Finance,  withoit  wishing  to  convey  any 
commendation  of  some  of  his  oth^r  w  -kings,  the  subjects  of 
which,  are  in  no-wise  connected  Witb  ihis  subject.  In  the 
principles  of  finance  he  was  deeply  ski*L>a;  ana,  to  his  very 
great  and  rare  talents  as  a  writer,  he  added  on  uncommon 
degree  of  experience  in  the  concerns  of  papsr-money,  the  rise 
and  fall  of  which  he  had  witnessed  in  tho  American  states, 
and  in  Fiance.  Truth  is  truth,  come  fro.xi  whom  it  may; 
and  there  is  no  greater  folly  than  that  of  renting  it,  that  of 
shutting  one's  eyes  and  ears  against  it,  men. I/  because  it  pro- 
ceeds from  persons,  of  whose  conduct,  in  oti.u.1  respects,  one 
may  disapprove.  The  writings  of  LORD  BACI^  are  held,  and 
justly  held,  in  great  estimation  ;  though  he  wia,  cs  our  ele- 
gant and  virtuous  poet  describes  him,  the  metres*,  of  man- 
kind." The  iate  Lord  Liverpool,  Mr.  Pitt,  Mi.  fox,  Mi 
Sheridan,  Mr.  Nicholls,  Mr.  Hobhouse  and  otrui\  :MM\  .*<• 
we  shall  see  by-and-by,  a  Committee  of  the  House  cf  Ccc*  • 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  209 

have  perceived  his  dilemma ;  hut  to  extricate  him 
from  it  was  beyond  the  power  even  of  his  dexterity. 
He  was  obliged  to  acknowledge,  that  the  whole  was 
become  a  system  of  paper,  or  that  he  had  taken  the 
gold  from  the  Bank  ;  and,  of  the  two  evils,  he  chose 
that,  which  would  expose  him  to  the  least  share  of 
public  odium. 

This  view  of  the  Bank's  Affairs  has  led  me  fur- 
ther than  I  expected,  but  it  was  quite  necessary  as 
an  introduction  to  that  of  the  Acts  of  Parliament, 
which  will  be  the  subject  of  my  next. 

I  am,  in  the  meanwhile,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  Friend. 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 
Monday,  November  5lh,  1810. 


LETTER  XVI. 


metals."— Sylvius,  on  the  American  paper- money,  1787, 


Introduction  of  the  Bank  Restriction  Act  into  the  House  of 
Commons  -The  Origin  of  this  Measure— The  Bill  moved 
for  by  Mr.  Pitt— Suspension  of  the  Two  Acts  Prohibiting 
Small  Promissory  Notes— The  Title  and  Preambles  of 
those  Acts— The  Principles  of  those  Acts— Title  and  Pream- 
ble of  the  Bank  Restriction  Act— View  of  the  Provisions  of 
that  Act— The  Legal  Tender— The  Meaning  and  Applica- 
tion of  the  Word  Restriction. 

mons,  have  since  acknowledged  the  truth  of  the  principles  of 
Mr.  Paine' s  work.  Events  have  proved  the  truth  of  them, 
and  to  point  out  the  fact,  is  no  more  than  an  act  of  justice 
due  to  his  talents,  and  an  act  the  more  particularly  due  at  my 
hands.  I  having  been  one  of  his  most  violent  assailants.  Any 
man  may  fall  into  error,  but  a  fool  or  a  knave  will  seldom 
acknowledge  it 

IS* 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WE  have  now  to  take  a  view  of  the  Acts  of  Par- 
liament^ passed  in  consequence  of  the  Stoppage  ot 
cash  payments  at  the  Bank  of  England ;  then,  to 
see  what  was,  at  the  passing  of  these  Acts,  said  by 
the  advocates  of  them,  respecting  their  duration  ; 
and  this  will  enable  us  to  form  a  pretty  correct  judg- 
ment as  to  the  statesman-like  wisdom  of  those  advo- 
cates, and  also  as  to  the  probability  of  the  Acts  ever 
being  hereafter  removed,  except  by  a  total  annihila- 
tion of  the  paper-money. 

Until  the  time  at  which  the  Bank  Stoppage  took 
place;  until  the  26th  day  of  February,  1797,  the 
notes  of  the  Bank  Company  were  considered  as  good 
as  real  money;  because,  if  the  holder  chose  it,  he 
could,  at  any  moment,  demand  and  receive  real 
money  in  excnange  for  them.  But  when  the  Bank, 
in  the  manner  that  we  have  seen,  refused  payment 
upon  demand,  the  nature  of  the  notes  was  wholly 
changed.  They  were  no  longer  equal  in  value  to 
real  money ;  and  nothing  but  a  species  of  compul- 
sion would,  of  course,  induce  the  people  to  receive 
them  in  payment  of  any  debt  theretofore  contracted 

Now  then  came  the  pinch.  Now  came  forth  the 
fact,  that  it  was  beyond  all  the  pOAvers  of  hypocrisy, 
trickx  and  confusing  verbosity,  any  longer  to  disguise; 
forth  came  the  fact,  that  bank  notes  were  to  be,  in 
reality,  forced  upon  the  people  ;  that  the  man,  who 
had  a  debt  due  to  him,  must  take  them  in  payment; 
or  if  he  refused  them,  be  unable  to  arrest  his  debt- 
or :  forth  came  the  fact,  aye,  forth  it  came,  aftei 
all  the  railing  against  French  assignats;  forth  came 
the  fact,  that  no  man  who  held  a  bank  note  ;  that  no 
man  who  held  a  note  of  that  company  of  Traders, 
payable  on  demand,  could  compel  them  to  pay  him, 
except  in  other  such  notes.  Forth  came  this  fact, 
and  yet  those  who  had  brought  the  finances  of  the 
country  into  such  a  state,  were  still  kept  in  power; 
to  their  management  were  the  nation's  affairs  still 
left :  to  their  promises  did  the  credulous  and  affright- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  211 

ed  people  still  listen ;  and  of  their  measures  has  the 
nation  ever  since  been  feeling,  and  will,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  long  feel,  the  consequences. 

The  Order  of  the  Privy  Council  (see  it  in  Letter 
XI,  page  159)  required  the  Bank  Company  to  stop 
paying  their  notes  in  money.  The  words  are,  "  to 
forbear  issuing  any  cash  in  payment."  I  beseech 
"you,  Gentlemen,  to  consider  well  the  nature  of  this 
transaction.  Look  back  at  the  origin  of  the  Bank. 
Consider  it  as  it  really  was,  a  mere  Company  of 
Traders.  Then  view  the  holders  of  the  notes,  who 
were  so  many  legal  creditors,  so  many  persons 
having  a  just  and  legal  claim  to  be  paid  upon  de- 
mand. See  all  these  creditors  at  once  deprived  of 
their  legal  rights  of  payment  by  an  order  of  the 
Privy  Council,  of  which  the  Minister  himself  was 
a  member.  See  here  a  Company  of  Traders,  having 
promissory  notes  out  to  the  amount  of  many  millions, 
required  by  the  Privy  Council  9  to  forbear*'  to  pay 
off  the  said  notes  ;  and  above  all  things,  observe,  and 
NEVER  FORGET,  that  this  order,  or  request, 
was  made  in  consequence,  as  we  have  seen  from  the 
official  documents,  of  representations  made  by  this 
Cow-pant/  of  Traders  themselves,  who,  as  is  stated 
in  those  documents  (Letter  XIII,  page  181)  made 
such  representations  in  consequence  of  the  drain 
upon  their  cash,  and  of  the  alarm  they  therefore  felt 
"  >r  the  safety  of  their  House. 
This  was  a  fine  spectacle  to  behold  :  it  was  a  fine 
ing  to  be  held  forth  to  the  world  by  a  Minister, 
whose  boasting  about  his  financial  resources,  and 
about  his  support  of  public  credit,  had  been  inces- 
sant from  the  day  he  first  vaulted  into  the  saddle  of 
power.  If  this  could  be  done  with  regard  to  one 
Company  of  Traders,  why  not  with  regard  to  any 
other  Company  of  Traders,  or  any  other  single  Tra- 
der in  the  kingdom?  If  the  Privy  Council,  avow- 
edly upon  the  representation  of  the  Minister,  were 
to  protect  this  Company  of  Traders,  against  the  law- 
ful demands  of  their  creditors ;  what  reason  was 


p 

:: 


212  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

there,  that  other  Traders,  that  other  Debtors,  should 
not  be  protected  in  the  same  way  ;  if  they  should 
"  feel  alarm  for  the  safety  of  their  house  ?"  We 
must  never  lose  sight  of  this  fact,  that  the  Order  in 
Council  arose  from  a  representation  of  the  Minister ; 
that  representation  arose  from  one  made  to  the  Mi- 
nister, by  the  Bank  Company  ;  and  this  latter  repre- 
sentation arose  (See  Letter  XIII,  p.  181)  from  the 
drain  of  cash  at  the  Bank,  and  from  the  alarm  which 
the  Bank  Company  felt  for  the  safety  of  their  house. 
This  should  be  constantly  kept  in  view.  We  should 
never,  for  one  moment,  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  the 
whole  of  this  measure  of  protection  to  the  Bank, 
had  its  origin  in  representations  made  by  the  Bank 
Company  itself.  And  if  we  keep  this  fact  steadily 
in  view,  we  shall  be  in  no  danger  as  to  coming*  at  a 
proper  conclusion. 

Thus  far,  then,  we  have  seen  the  transaction  going 
no  further  than  the  Privy  Council.  We  have  seen 
it  originate  with  the  Bank  Company,  the  demands 
of  whose  lawful  creditors  had  given  them  alarm. 
We  have  seen  the  Bank  Company  calling  upon  the 
Minister,  to  know  when  he  would  interfere.  And, 
we  have  seen  the  Minister,  after  saying  on  the  24th, 
that  he  would  prepare  a  resolution  of  Council,  go 
to  the  Council  on  the  26th,  and  obtain  the  resolution 
and  order  that  we  have  seen.  Thus  the  Privy 
Council  became  a  party  to  the  transaction  ;  and  we 
are  now  about  to  see  how  the  Parliament  put  the 
finishing  stroke  to  it,  by  giving  to  the  Order  of  Council 
the  sanction  of  law ;  we  are  now  about  to  take  a 
view  of  the  Legislative  Acts,  by  which,  to  use  the 
expression  of  the  late  Lord  Liverpool,  paper-credit 
was  exchanged  for  paper-currency,  by  which  bank 
notes  were  moulded  into  paper-money. 

In  Letter  XII,  page  171,  we  have  seen  how  the 
minister  first  introduced  to  the  House  of  Commons 
the  project  of  passing  a  law  to  sanction  the  Order  in 
Council ;  that  is  to  say,  to  sanction  the  refusal  of  the 
Bank  Company  to  pay  their  promissory  notes.  We 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  213 

have  seen,  that  upon  being  asked  by  Mr.  ALDERMAN 
COMBE,  whether  he  meant  to  make  the  bank  notes 
a  legal  tender,  he  knew  not  what  to  answer  ;  that 
he  twisted  and  writhed  in  great  apparent  embarrass- 
ment of  mind ;  but,  that  he  knew  not  what  to  answer. 
We  have  also  seen,  that  before  the  House  met  the 
next  day  (28th  of  February,  1797)  the  meeting  at  the 
Mansion  House  had  taken  place,  having  been,  as  we 
have  seen,  previously  contrived,  in  private,  with  the 
Minister.  We  have  seen  an  account  of  the  other 
meetings  through  the  country  ;  and  we  have  seen, 
in  Letter  XIV.,  the  manner  of  forming  the  SECRET 
COMMITTEE,  from  whom  came  Reports  (Letter 
XIV.,  p.  194,  195,)  declaring  the  affairs  of  the  Bank 
to  be  in  a  most  flourishing  way,  and  that  the 
Company  were  possessed  of  a  great  surplus  of 
means. 

Thus  prepared,  and  perceiving,  by  this  time,  that 
his  adherents  were  resolved  to  stand  by  him,  (See 
Letter  XIV.,  p.  195,)  the  Minister,  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1797,  moved  for  leave  to  "  bring  in  a  bill  to 
confirm  and  continue  the  Order  in  Council  of  the 
26th  of  February,  for  a  time  to  be  limited."  This 
was  the  first  motion  towards  making  of  the  law  for 
authorizing  the  Bank  to  refuse  to  pay  its  creditors 
their  just  demands  ;  that  law,  which  has  filled  the 
kingdom  with  banks  and  with  paper-money,  and 
which,  as  we  shall  by-and-by  see,  has  produced  no 
small  share  of  our  present  dangers  and  distress. 
But,  before  we  proceed  any  further  in  the  history 
of  this  ACT,  which,  you  will  bear  in  mind,  is  the 
ACT,  which  the  Bullion  Committee  have  proposed 
to  repeal  in  J:\vo  years  from  this  time  ;  before  we 
proceed  any  'further  in  the  history  of  this  Act,  we 
must  shortly  notice  two  other  Acts,  which  were 
passed  before  it,  and  which,  though  of  inferior  im- 
portance, were  the  first-born  of  the  Bank  Stoppage. 

The  refusal  of  the  Bank  Company  to  pay  their 
notes  was,  as  every  one  must  naturally  suppose,  pro- 
ductive of  the  consequence  of  driving  all  the  gold 


214  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

coin  out  of  circulation  ;  for,  under  such  circumstan- 
ces, the  moment  a  guinea,  or  a  half  guinea  got  into 
the  hands  of  a  person  able  to  keep  it,  and  not  an 
ideot,  it  would  remain  very  quiet  in  the  chest  of  that 
person  ;  and,  as  the  smallest  notes  then  in  circula- 
tion were  notes  foi  five  pounds,  the  difficulty  in  ma- 
king payments  would  necessarily  be  very  great. 
The  distress  arising  from  this  cause,  was  so  great, 
that  on  the  1st  of  March,  it  was  resolved  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  legalise  the 
issuing  of  small  notes  by  private  persons;  and,  on 
the  same  day,  a  bill  was  read  a  second  time,  for  en- 
abling the  Bank  of  England  to  issue  notes  under 
jive  pounds. 

The  reason  for  passing  these  Acts  was  this ;  there 
were  in  existence  two  Acts  of  Parliament,  which 
prohibited  the  negotiating  of  promissory  notes  and 
other  paper  of  an  amount  under  Jive  pounds.  These 
Acts  are,  upon  this  occasion,  worthy  of  our  particu- 
lar attention ;  because  they  were  passed  upon  the 
principle,  that  small  paper  promises  were  injurious 
to  the  community.  The  first  of  these  Acts  was 
passed  in  the  year  1775,  and,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
Title  and  Preamble,  which  I  beg  of  you  to  read,* 

*  FIFTEENTH  GEO.  III.  Chap.  LI. — An  Act  to  restrain  the 
negotiation  of  promissory  notes  and  inland  bills  of  exchange 
under  a  limited  sum,  witnin  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called 
England. — Whereas  various  notes,  bills  of  exchange,  and 
draughts  for  money,  for  very  small  sums,  have,  for  some  time 
past,  been  circulated  or  negotiated  in  lieu  of  cas/i,  within 
that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  England ;  to  the  great  preju- 
dice of  trade  arid  public  credit;  fyc.  <f»c.  Be  it,  therefore,  en- 
acted by  the  King's  most  excellent  majesty,  by,  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and 
Commons,  in  this  present  Parliament  assembled,  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  same.  That  all  promissory  or  other  notes, 
bills  of  exchange,  or  drafts,  or  undertakings  in  writing,  being 


negotiable  or  transferable  for  the  payment  of  any  sum  or  sums 
of  money,  less  than  the  sum  of  twenty  shillings  in  the  whole, 
which  snail  be  made  or  issued  at  any  time  from  and  after 
the  twenty-fourth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-five,  shall  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  declared 
to  be,  absolutely  void,  and  of  no  effect,  any  law,  statute,  usage, 
or  custom,  to  me  contrary  thereof,  in  anywise  notwithstand- 


ing. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  215 

smalt  paper  currency  was,  at  that  time,  declared  by 
law  to  be  of  "  great  prejudice  to  trade  and  public 
credit."  ,  There  were  in  1775,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  no  bank  notes  for  sums  less  than  TEN  POUNDS, 
and,  it  was  then  supposed,  that  smaller  notes  would 
be  an  injury.  In  two  years  after  the  above  Act  was 
passed,  the  effect  of  it  having  been  found  good,  ano- 
ther Act  was  passed,  carrying  the  prohibition  to  any 
sum  under  Jive  pounds.  And,  Gentlemen.  I  beg  you 
to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  language  of  these 
Acts.  The  first  says,  that  the  circulation  of  notes 
for  very  small  sums,  in  lieu  of  cash,  is  to  the  great 
prejudice  of  trade  and  public  credit  ;  and,  after  the 
Parliament  have  had  two  years  experience  of  the 
effects  of  this  Act,  they  pass  another,  in  which,  after 
declaring  that  the  effects  of  the  former  Act  have  been 
"  very  salutary"  they  extend  the  provisions  of  it 
from  the  sum  of  twcMy  shillings  to  the  sum  of 
Jive  pounds*  Thus,  then,  small  paper  currency 
was  proved  to  have  been  an  evil ;  it  was  proved,  by 
experience,  to  have  been  injurious  to  trade  and  to 
public  credit ;  and,  therefore,  while  there  were  no 
bank  notes  for  sums  less  than  ten  pounds,  the  law 
forbade  that  there  should  be  any  other  circulating 
or  negotiable  notes,  under  five  pounds. 

Thus,  as  to  paper-currency,  stood  the  law  in  1797, 

*  SEVENTEENTH  GEO.  III.  Cap.  XXX.— An  Act  for  fur- 
ther restraining  the  negotiation  of  promissory  notes,  and  in 
land  bills  of  exchange,  under  a  limited  sum,  within  that  part 
of  Great  Britain  called  England.— Whereas  by  a  certain  Act 
of  Parliament  passed  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his 
present  Majesty,  (intituled  an  Act  to  restrain  the  negotiation 
of  promissory  notes  and  inland  bills  of  exchange  under  a 
limited  sum,  within  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  Eng- 
land,) all  negotiable  promissory  or  other  notes,  bills  of  ex- 
change, or  draughts,  or  undertakings  in  writing,  f6r  any  sum 
of  moneyless  than  the  sum  of  twenty  shillings  in  the  whole, 
&c.  &c. ;  and  whereas,  the  said  Act  hath  been  attended  with 
very  salutary  effects,  and  in  case  the  provisions  therein  con- 
tained were  extended  to  a  further  sumt  the  good  purpose  of 
the  said  Act  would  be  further  advanced.  Be  it,  therefore,  en- 
acted, &c.  And  the  Act  extends  the  prohibition  to  any  sura 
under  Jive  pounds. 


216  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

when  the  Bank  Stoppage  took  place ;  and,  as  we  have 
already  seen  in  the  former  part  of  this  Letter,  the 
country  was,  in  consequence  of  the  Stoppage,  thrown 
into  the  greatest  distress  for  the  want  of  something 
to  represent  small  sums.  The  manufacturers,  and, 
indeed,  all  the  journeymen  and  labourers  through- 
out the  kingdom,  could  not  be  paid  in  the  usual 
manner.  The  coin  had  disappeared,  as  it  natu- 
rally would  the  moment  a  bank  note  would  not  fetch 
its  amount  in  guineas  at  the  Bank  ;  and,  the  guineas 
and  half  guineas  having  gone  out  of  sight,  which  they 
did  instantly,  there  were  no  means  of  paying  small 
sums.  Therefore,  the  very  first  thing  to  be  done, 
was  to  provide  something  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
guineas  and  half-guineas,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  of 
the  coin,  except  the  hammered-out  shillings  and  six- 
pences, such  as  we  now  see  current. 

For  this  purpose,  it  was  necessary  to  pass  an  Act 
to  repeal,  or,  at  least,  to  suspend,  the  two  Acts,  of 
which  we  have  just  taken  a  view,  and  accordingly 
a  suspension  Act  was  passed  on  the  10th  of  Maich, 
1797,  the  title  and  preamble  of  which  Act  are  here 
inserted  as  worthy  of  attention,  and  as  matter  for 
future  remark.*  This  Act,  by  which  the  suspension 

1  *  THIRTY- SEVENTH  GEO.  III.  Chap.  XXXIL— An  Act  to 
suspend,  for  a  limited  time,  the  operation  of  two  Acts  o  the 
fifteenth  and  seventeenth  years  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  for  restraining  the  negotiation  of  promissory  notes, 
and  inland  bills  of  exchange,  under  a  limited  sum,  within  that 
part  of  Great  Britain  called  England.— Whereas  an  Act  of 
Parliament  was  passed  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
his  present  Majesty,  intituled  an  Act  to  restrain  the  negotia- 
tion of  promissory  notes  and  inland  bills  of  exchange,  under 
a  limited  sum,  within  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  Eng- 
land ;  And  whereas  another  Act  was  passed  in  the  seven- 
teenth year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled,  an  , 
Act  for  further  restraining  the  negotiation  of  promissory 
notes  and  inland  bills  of  exchange  under  a  limited  sum,  with- 
in that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  England;  and  whereas 
IT  IS  EXPEDIENT  that  the  said  Acts^should  be  suspended 
for  a  certain  time,  so  far  as  the  same  may  relate  to  any  notes, 
draughts,  or  undertakings  made  payable  on  demand :  &c. 
&c.  &c.  The  Act  then  suspends  those  laws  until  the  first 
day  of  Mayt  1797. 


was  to  b< 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  217 


5  to  be  continued  only  till  the  first  day  of  the  then 
ensuing  month  of  May  ;  that  is  to  say,  for  forty  days 
only,  was,  as  we  shall  by-and-by  see,  afterwards  ex- 
tended in  its  duration,  and  has  continued  in  force 
till  this  day. 

But,  this  was  nothing  without  giving  a  power  of 
making  small  notes  to  the  Bank  of  England.  The 
Bank  had  dividends  to  pay  ;  and,  of  course,  all  the 
sums,  or  parts  of  sums,  under  five  pounds,  (there 
being,  as  yet,  no  notes  under  that  sum,)  they  were 
still  compelled  to  pay  in  cash,  which  was  what  they 
did  not  like,  and,  in  fact,  what  they  were  not,  per- 
haps, able  to  do.  It  was,  therefore,  necessary, 
above  all  things,  to  give  them  a  power  of  making 
small  notes.  There  was  a  doubt  whether  the  two 
Acts  of  the  15th  and  17th  of  George  the  Third, 
above-mentioned,  applied  to  bank  notes  ;  and,  it  was 
thought  by  some  persons,  that  they  did  not  so  apply  5 
but,  an  Act  of  Parliament,  the  great  cure  for  all 
doubts  and  difficulties,  was  passed  to  remove  this 
doubt ;  and  such  was  the  haste  in  doing  this,  that 
the  Act  was  passed  on  the  3rd  of  March,  though 
the  Bill  was  brought  in  only  on  the  28th  of  Feb- 
ruary. This  Act  authorized  the  Bank  to  issue  notes 
for  sums  under  five  pounds  ;  and,  accordingly,  two 
and  one  pound-notes  were  immediately  issued.* 

Now,  Gentlemen,  I  beg  you  to  stop  here  for  a 
moment,  and  take  another  look  at  the  language  of 
these  Acts  of  Parliament,  these  solemn  declarations 
of  the  Legislature.  In  the  year  1775,  they  say,  that 
the  circulation  of  small  notes,  in  lieu  of  cash,  is  of 
" great  prejudice  to  trade  and  public  credit"  In 
1777,  they  declare,  upon  the  evidence  of  two  years  of 

*  THIRTY-SEVENTH  GEO.  III.  Chap.  XXVIII.-An  Act  to 
remove  doubts  respecting  Promissory  Notes  of  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England,  for  payment  of  sums 

of  money  under  five  pounds. Whereas  it  is  expedient  for 

the  public  service  and  for  the  convenience  of  commercial  cir- 
culation, that  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the.  Bank  of 
England  should  issue  Promissory  Notes,  payable  to  bearer, 
for  sums  of  money  under  five  pounds  ;  &c.  &c. 
19 


818  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

experience,  that  their  having  lessened  the  quantity 
of  small  notes  had  produced  "  very  salutary  effects." 
And  in  1797,  under  the  ministry  of  PITT,  whose  debts 
the  public  have  paid,  and  for  whom  they  are  to  pay 
for  a  monument ;  aye,  under  the  ministry  of  this 
man,  the  Parliament  were  brought  to  declare,  that  to 
make  small  notes,  that  to  do  just  the  contrary  of 
what  the  above  two  Acts  were  intended  to  effect, 
was  u  expedient  for  the  public  service,  and  for  the 
convenience  of  commerce."  In  1775,  and  1777,  it 
was  enacted,  that  small  promissory  notes,  in  lieu  of 
cash,  were  "  a  great  prejudice  to  trade  and  public 
CREDIT."  In  1797  it  was  enacted,  that  small  promis- 
sory notes,  in  lieu  of  cash,  were  "  expedient  for  the 
public  service,  and  for  the  convenience  of  com- 
merce" Gentlemen,  when  you  have  paid  due  at- 
tention to  this,  you  will  hardly  want  any  thing  more 
to  enable  you  to  answer  those,  who  have  yet  the 
folly  or  the  impudence  to  attempt  a  defence  of  the 
ministry  of  PITT,  who,  as  it  has  been  well  observed, 
in  reply  to  one  of  his  eulogists,  found  the  country 
gold  and  left  it  paper. 

But,  the  grand  measure  was  yet  to  come.  There 
was,  as  yet,  no  law  to  sanction  the  deed  of  refusing 
to  pay  the  bearers  of  the  Bank's  promissory  notes. 
This  was  a  thing  that  the  people  had  yet  to  receive 
at  the  hands  of  those,  who  had  plunged  them  into 
the  Anti-Jacobin  war,  and  who  had  fed  them  with 
the  hopes  of  beating  France  through  her  finances. 
Yes,  the  people  of  England,  the  "  most  thinking 
people,"  had  yet  to  swallow  this ;  they  had  yet  to 
gulph  this  bolus  from  the  hands  of  those,  who  had 
buoyed  them  up  for  so  many  years,  by  comparisons 
of  the  flourishing  state  of  the  English  finances  com- 
pared with  those  of  France,  which  last  nation  they 
still  believed  to  be,  as  PITT  told  them,  "  in  the  very 
gulph  of  bankruptcy." 

This  measure  was,  as  we  have  seen,  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Commons,  in  form,  on  the  9th  ot 
March,  1797,  in  a  motion  made  by  PITT,  for  leave 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  219 

to  bring  in  a  Bill  for  continuing,  for  a  limited  time, 
what  he  called  the  RESTRICTION  (pray  mark 
the  word)  upon  the  Bank,  relative  to  its  issue  of 
specie.  This  Bill,  after  undergoing  the  discussions, 
some  of  which  I  shall  have  to  notice  more  particularly 
by-and-by,  became  a  Law  on  the  3d  of  May,  1797.* 
When  you  have  read  the  Title  and  Preamble  of 
this  Act,  you  will  accompany  me  in  a  brief  sketch 
of  its  provisions,  which  you  will  find  not  only  cu- 
rious and  interesting,  as  an  object  of  public  attention, 

*  THIRTY- SEVENTH  GEO.  III.  Chap.  XLV.— An  Act  for 
confirming  and  continuing  for  a  limited  time  the  Restriction 
contained  in  the  minute  of  Council  of  the  twenty-sixth  of 
February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  on 

payments  of  cash  by  the  Bank. Whereas  by  minute  of  his 

Majesty's  Privy  Council,  made  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of 
February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-seven, 
upon  the  representation  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
stating,  that  from  the  result  of  the  information  which  he  had 
received,  and  the  inquiries  which  it  had  been  his  duty  to 
make  respecting  the  effect  of  the  unusual  demands  for  specie, 
that  have  been  made  upon  the  metropolis,  in  consequence  of 
ill-founded  or  exaggerated  alarms  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  it  appeared,  that  unless  some  measure  was  immedi- 
ately taken,  there  might  be  reason  to  apprehend  a  want  of 
sufficient  supply  of  cash  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  the 
public  service  ;  it  was  declared  to  be  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  the  Board,  that  it  was  indispensably  necessary  for  the 
public  service,  that  the  Directors  of  the  Bank  of  England 
should  forbear  issuing  any  cash  in  payment,  until  the  sense 
of  Parliament  could  be  taken  on  that  subject,  and  the  proper 
measures  adopted  thereupon  for  maintaining  the  means  of 
circulation,  and  supporting  the  public  and  commercial  credit 
of  the  kingdom  at  this  important  conjuncture ;  and  it  was 
ordered,  that  a  copy  of  the  said  minute  should  be  transmitted 
to  the  Directors  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  they  were 
hereby  required,  on  the  grounds  of  the  exigency  of  the  case, 
to  conform  thereto  until  the  sense  of  Parliament  could  be 
j  taken  as  aforesaid :  And  whereas,  in  pursuance  of  the  minute, 
the  said  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England 
have,  since  the  said  twenty-sixth  day  of  February,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  forborne  to  issue  cash 
in  payments,  except  for  purposes  for  which  the  issue  of  cash 
was  deemed  unavoidable ;  it  is  necessary  that  the  Restriction 
in  the  said  minute,  although  not  warranted  by  Law^  should 
be  confirmed,  and  should  be  continued  for  a  limited  time,  by 
the  authority  of  Parliament :  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  &c.  &c. 
&c. 


220  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

but  useful  also  to  each  of  you  as  individuals,  who 
will  hence  learn,  how  far  you  are  compelled  to  re- 
ceive payment  in  bank  notes,  and  in  what  way  youi 
previous  contracts  have  been  affected  by  this  Act. 

The  Preamble  of  the  Act  having  repeated  whai 
was  contained  in  the  Order  of  Council,  and  having 
declared  that  to  confirm  and  continue  the  refusal  tc 
pay  in  Gold  and  Silver,  though  such  refusal  was  not 
warranted  by  law  ;  having  acknowledged  the  ille- 
gality of  the  things  done,  and  declared  the  necessity 
of  continuing'  to  do  them  ;  having  made  this  begin- 
ning, the  Act  next  proceeds,  SECTION  I.,  to  indemnify 
the  Bank  Directors,  and  all  other  persons,  for  having 
done  these  illegal  things  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  protect 
all  such  persons  against  any  appeal  to  the  law,  that 
any  suffering  party  might  be  inclined  to  make.  So 
that,  whatever  loss,  or  hinderance,  or  injury,  any  man 
might  have  suffered  from  the  non-payment  of  the  pro- 
missory notes  of  the  Bank  Company,  such  sufferer 
was,  by  this  Act,  at  once  deprived  of  all  legal  means 
of  obtaining  redress.  The  Act  next  provides,  in 
SECTION  II.,  that  the  Bank  should  be  liable  to  no  pro- 
secution for  the  non-payment  of  any  of  their  notes, 
that  they  might  be  willing  to  exchange  for  other 
notes  ;  arud,  that  in  case  the  Bank  were  sued  by  any 
one  for  the  non-payment  of  their  notes,  they  might 
apply  to  the  Court  to  stop  proceedings  in  such  ac- 
tions, who  might  stop  them  accordingly,  and  without 
costs  to  the  plaintiff  in  any  action  brought  against  the 
Bank  for  non-payment  of  its  notes,  unless  the  Court 
should  think  the  action  necessary.  SECTION  III. 
permits  the  Bank  to  issue  cash  in  payment  of  any 
sum  under  twenty  shillings,  or  where  less  than 
twenty  shillings  should  be  a  fractional  part  of  a  sum 
to  be  paid  by  the  Bank.  This  was  a  very  gracious 
permission!  The  same  Section  allows  them  to 
issue  cash  for  the  service  of  the  Army,  the  Navy, 
or  the  Ordnance,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  of  the 
Privy  Council.  SECTION  IV.  specifies  that  the  Bank, 
during  the  restriction  or  stoppage,  shall  not  advance 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  221 

to  the  Government  any  cash  or  notes  exceeding  in 
amount  600,000  pounds.  SECTION  V.  permits  the 
Bank  to  repay  cash  to  those  persons  thai  may  choose 
to  lodge  cash  in  the  Bank.  But,  the  Section  per- 
mits the  Bank  to  repay  in  cash,  only  three  fourths 
of  the  amount  of  what  shall  be  so  lodged  with  them. 
SECTIONS  VI  and  VII.  permit  the  Bank  to  advance 
the  sum  of  125,000  pounds  to  the  Bankers  of  Lon- 
don and  Scotland.  SECTION  VIII.  treats  of  payments 
between  private  individuals,  and  it  provides,  that  all 
payments  which  have  been  made,  or  which  shall  be 
made,  during  the  continuance  of  this  Act,  in  Bank  of 
England  notes,  shall  be  deemed  payments  in  cash, 
if  accepted  as  such.  SECTION  IX.  contains  the  great 
alteration  made  in  the  law  between  debtor  and  cre- 
ditor. We  have  seen,  that  by  the  2d  Section,  the 
bank  notes  were  made  to  be  quite  equal  to  cash  in 
the  case  of  all  demands  made  upon  the  Bank  for 
payment  of  its  notes;  which,  therefore,  made  the 
notes  of  the  Bank,  as  far  as  related  to  debts  due  from 
the  Bank,  on  account  of  its  notes,  a  LEGAL  TENDER, 
which  words  mean  such  money  or  currency  as  the 
law  regards  as  good  in  the  payment  of  debts.  Guineas, 
for  instance,  are  a  LEGAL  TENDER,  because,  the  ten- 
der, or  offering  of  them  in  payment,  is  sufficient  to 
prevent  any  action  or  proceeding  at  law  being  en- 
tertained against  the  person,  who  may  have  offered 
them  in  payment,  in  quantity  equal  to  the  amount  of 
the  debt.  But,  bank  notes  were  not  made  a  legal 
tender,  and  they  are  not  now  a  legal  tender,  between 
private  individuals.  If  a  man  owe  me  money,  I  can 
still  demand  coin  in  payment;  and  the  only  differ- 
ence is,  that  I  cannot,  if  my  debtor  tender  me  the 
amount  of  the  debt  in  Bank  of  England  notes,  cause 
him  to  be  arrested  and  held  to  special  6ai7,  as  I 
might  have  done,  if  this  Act  had  not  been  passed. 
This  part  of  the  Act  every  one  should  read,  and. 
therefore,  I  have  put  the  9th  Section  in  a  note.* 

*  SECTION  IX.— And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority 


222  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

SECTION  X.  provides  that  the  collectors  of  the  public 
revenue  shall  accept  payment  in  Bank  of  England 
notes.  SECTION  XI.  permits  the  Bank  to  issue  cash, 
in  certain  cases,  upon  giving  five  days'  notice  to  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.  SECTIONS  XII. 
and  XIII.  provide  for  the  continuance  of  the  Act  to 
the  24th  of  June,  (a  duration  of  only  fifty-two  days,) 
and  for  the  repealing  or  altering  of  it  during  the  then 
present  session  of  Parliament. 

aforesaid,  that  during  the  continuance  of  the  restriction  on 
payments  by  the  said  governor  and  company  in  cash,  impo- 
sed by  this  Act,  no  person  shall  be  held  to  special  bail  upon 
any  process  issuing  out  of  any  court,  unless  the  affidavit 
which  shall  be  made  for  that  purpose,  according  to  the  pro- 
visions in  the  Act  of  the  twelfth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  late 
Majesty  King  George  the  First,  for  preventing  frivolous  and 
vexatious  arrests,  shall  not  only  contain  the  several  matters 
required  by  the  said  Act,  but  also  that  no  offer  has  been 
made  to  pay  the  sum  of  money  in  such  affidavit  mentioned, 
and  therein  sworn  to,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  any  person 
to  special  bail,  in  notes  of  the  said  governor  and  company,  ex- 
pressed to  be  payable  on  demand  (fractional  parts  of  the  sum 
of  twenty  shillings  only  excepted  ;)  and  if  any  process  shall 
be  issued  against  any  person,  upon  which  such  person  might 
have  been  neld  to  special  bail  before  the  passing  of  this  Act, 
and  no  affidavit  shall  be  made  as  aforesaid,  that  no  such 
offer  of  payment  in  notes  of  the  governor  arid  company  had 
been  made  as  aforesaid,  such  person  shall  not  be  arrested  on 
such  process,  but  proceedings  shall  be  had  against  such  per- 
son iii  the  same  manner  as  if  no  affidavit  had  been  made  for 
the  purpose  of  holding  such  persons  to  special  bail,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  said  Act  of  his  said  late  Majesty  King 
George  the  First;  and  all  provisions  in  such  Act,  or  in  any 
other  Act  of  Parliament,  for  preventing  frivolous  and  vexatious 
arrests,  shall  be  applied  to  the  provisi9ns  in  this  Act  contained. 
KG  far  as  the  same  are  capable  of  being  so  applied  :  Provided 
always,  that  if  affidavit  shall  be  made,  upon  which  any  per- 
son or  persons  might  have  been  held  to  special  bail  upon  any 
such  process  as  aforesaid,  before  the  passing  of  this  Act,  and 
it  shall  be  likewise  sworn  in  such  affidavit,  that  such  offer  of 
payment  has  been  made  as  aforesaid,  so  that  the  person  or 

Eersons  who  might  have  been  arrested  and  held  to  special 
ail  upon  such  process,  if  this  Act  had  not  been  made,  cannot, 
by  reason  of  such  offer  and  of  the  provisions  in  this  Act  con- 
tained, be  so  arrested  and  held  to  special  bail,  it  shall  be  law- 
ful for  the  court  out  of  which  such  process  shall  issue,  or  for 
any  judge  of  such  court,  in  a  summary  way,  to  order  the  de- 
fendant or  defendants  in  the  action  in  which  such  process 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  223 

This,  Gentlemen,  is  what  is  called  the  Bank-RE- 
STRICTION  Act,  a  very  convenient  phrase,  calcu- 
lated to  convey  the  notion,  that  the  Bank  is  able  and 
willing  to  pay  ;  hut,  that  it  is  not  permitted  to  do  it. 
I  beg  you  to  bear  along  with  you  the  meaning  of  the 
word  Restriction,  which  implies  an  act  done  by  one 
party,  to  prevent  another  party  from  doing  what  he 
would  do  if  not  prevented.  To  restrict  is  to  limit 
or  confine.  I  am  restricted,  for  instance,  from  going 
out  of  Newgate.  I  am  here  in  a  state  of  restriction. 
I  should  go  home  to  my  farm  and  my  family,  if  it 
were  not  for  this  restriction  ;  and  so  "  the  most 
thinking  people  of  Europe"  think,  of  course,  that 
the  Bank  Company  would  pay  their  notes  in  Gold 
and  Silver,  if  they  were  not  restricted  in  the  same 
manner.  But  of  this  we  shall  see  more  in  the  next 
Letter,  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  duration  of 
this  restricting  Act ;  and,  in  the  mean  while,  I 
remain, 

Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Pinson,  Newgate, 
Monday,  Nov.  12,  1810. 

shall  issue,  and  who  might  have  been  so  held  to  special  bail 
as  aforesaid,  if  this  Act  had  not  been  made,  10  cause  notes  of 
the  said  governor  and  company,  expressed  to  be  payable  on 
demand,  to  the  amount  of  the  sum  of  money  for  which  such 
person  or  persons  might  have  been  so  held  to  special  bail,  if 
this  Act  had  not  been  made,  to  be  deposited  in  such  manner 
as  such  Court  or  Judges  shall  direct,  10  answer  the  demands 
of  the  plaintiff  err  plaintiffs  in  such  action ;  and  if  such  depo- 
sit shall  not  be  made  within  the  time  limited  by  such  order, 
after  such  notice  thereof,  as  shall  thereby  be  directed  to  be 
given,  it  shall  be  lawful,  upon  affidavit  duly  made  and  filed, 
that  such  deposit  has  not  been  made  according  to  such  order, 
to  arrest  sucn  defendant  or  defendants,  and  hold  him,  her,  or 
them,  to  special  bail,  in  such  and  the  same  manner  as  if  the 
said  Act  had  not  been  made. 


224  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

LETTER  XVII. 


Nothing  but  a  law,  declaring  bank  notes  to  be  a  legal  tender  of  payment, 
can  relieve  the  bankers  and  the  trading  part  of  the  community  from  the 
hardships  to  which  they  are  now  liable  ;  and  yet,  the  remedy  must,  in  the 

end,  be  worse  than  the  evil." Mr.  Hobhouse.    Speech  in  the  House  of 

Commons,  27th  March,  1797. 


The  legal  Tender— Gold  is  the  only  Legal  Tender  for  any 
Sum  above  25  Pounds— Acts  of  the  14th  and  39th  of  Geo. 
III. — Mr.  Huskisson's  Remark  upon  the  Legal  Tender — 
The  Effects  of  a  Legal  Tender  in  Paper— Illustrated  by  the 
Case  of  New  Jersey— Act  against  Legal  Tender  in  Paper, 
4th  Geo.  III.  chap.  34 — Mr.  Huskisson's  Mis-statement  as 
to  the  Notions  entertained  respecting  the  Legal  Tender 
at  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  1797— Mr.  Sheridan's  Predic- 
tion when  the  Act  was  moved  for — Sir  P.  Baring  proposes 
to  make  the  Notes  a  Legal  Tender— Mr.  Pitt  declines  it  for 
the  present— The  Mansion  House  and  other  Meetings  had, 
in  some  sort,  effect  of  the  Law — The  Law  as  it  now  stands 
as  to  the  Legal  Tender  of  the  Bank  of  England  Notes 
—Country  Bankers  may  be  compelled  to  pay  their  Notes 
in  Gold. 

GENTLEMEN, 

BEFORE  we  proceed  in  our  inquiries  as  to  the  DU- 
RATION of  the  Act,  which  was  the  subject  of  the 
foregoing  Letter,  and  by  which  the  Bank  of  England 
was  protected  against  the  cash  demands  of  the  hold- 
ers of  their  promissory  notes ;  before  we  proceed  in 
these  inquiries,  which  will  discover  matter  not  a 
little  curious  in  itself,  and  very  interesting  as  con- 
nected with  what  is  now  going  on  ;  before  we  thus 
proceed,  I  must  beg  your  attention  to  a  few  more 
words  upon  the  subject  of  the  LEGAL  TENDER. 

The  truth  is,  that  gold,  and  gold  only,  is  a  legal 
tender,  in  this  kingdom,  for  any  sum  above  25  pounds, 
unless  the  silver  be  tendered  in  weight.  This  was 
settled  by  an  Act,  passed  in  1774,  (14  Geo.  III.  Chap. 
42,)  which  Act  provided,  that  no  tender  in  pay- 
ment of  money  made  in  the  Silver  Coin  exceeding 
the  sum  of  25  pounds,  should  be  deemed  a  legal 
tender  for  more  than  its  value  by  weight,  at  the  rate 
of  5s.  2d.  for  each  ounce  of  Silver.  This  Act  con- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  225 

tinued  in  force  for  two  years,  when  it  expired  ;  but  it 
was  again  revived  in  the  year  1799,  and  made  per- 
petual. Thus,  you  see,  that  even  Silver  coin  was 
not,  except  in  small  sums,  a  legal  tender,  and  is  not 
a  legal  tender  to  this  day. 

But,  though  the  Bank  of  England  notes  were  not 
hy  the  Restriction,  or  Stoppage  Act,  made  a  legal 
tender  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  they  were  made 
so  to  a  certain  extent ;  for,  by  the  tender  of  them  in 
lieu  of  money,  any  debtor  could  escape  arrest,  and 
also  escape  the  giving  of  special  bail ;  and,  as  to 
the  Bank  of  England,  the  Act  not  only  protected  it 
against  the  demands  of  its  creditors ;  that  is,  against 
the  holders  of  its  notes,  but  by  the  same  Act,  the 
Bank  was  to  pay  to  the  public,  any  thing  due  from 
the  former  to  the  latter,  in  its  notes,  and  not  to  be 
compellable  to  pay  in  Gold  or  Silver.  This  was 
going  some  way,  at  least,  in  making  bank  notes  a 
legal  tender,  and  this  seems  to  have  been  overlooked 
by  Mr.  HUSKISSON,  (a  gentleman  of  whom  we  shall 
have  much  to  say  by-and-by,)  who  in  speaking  of 
the  change  created  by  the  Act  of  1797,  in  our  money 
system,  observes,  that  that  Act  did  not  repeal  any  of 
the  former  regulations  relating  to  the  coin,  and  that 
it  did  not  alter  the  Act  of  the  39th  of  the  King.  "  It 
did  not,"  says  he,  "  alter  in  any  respect  the  existing 
state  of  the  law,  either  as  to  the  weight  or  the  fine- 
ness of  the  gold  coin  ;  or  the  Act  of  the  39th  of  the 
King."  I  have  quoted  this  gentleman's  own  words, 
because  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  clearly  understand 
them.  Mr.  HUSKISSON  is  a  member  of  Parliament, 
and  a  pensioner,  and  such  people  are  apt  to  talk  in 
a  style  that  common  men  cannot  comprehend. 
Whether  he  means,  here,  that  the  weight  and  the 
fineness  of  the  Act  of  the  39th  of  the  King  remain 
unaltered ;  or,  that  the  existing  state  of  the  law  as 
to  the  Act  of  the  39th  of  the  King  remain  unaltered ;  or, 
that  the  Act  of  the  39th  of  the  King  did  itself  remain 
unaltered  ;  which  of  these  may  be  his  meaning,  I 
cannot  positively  say;  but,  of  this  I  am  sure,  that, 


226  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

in  all  the  three  suppositions  it  was  quite  unneces- 
sary to  express  such  meaning,  seeing  that  the  Act, 
which  he  so  positively  and  carefully  assures  us  was 
not  altered  by  the  Act  of  1797,  was  not  in  existence  at 
the  time,  and  was  not  passed  till  two  years  afterwards. 

The  mischievousness  of  forcing  paper-money 
upon  a  people  is  very  well  known.  It  has  been  most 
severely  felt  in  all  the  countries  where  it  has  been 
resorted  to,  and  it  has  never  failed,  sooner  or  later, 
to  annihilate  the  whole  of  the  paper,  attempted  so  to 
be  forced  upon  the  people.  This  was  the  case  in  all 
the  States  of  North  America,  every  one  of  which 
has,  first  or  last,  had  a  public  debt,  a  paper  money, 
a  legal  tender  in  paper,  and  a  state  bankruptcy. 
The  last  of  the  States,  I  believe,  that  clung  to  a  le- 
gal tender  in  paper,  was  NEW  JERSEY  ;  and,  the  con- 
sequence was,  that,  even  in  the  year  1792,  when  I 
first  went  to  the  United  States,  that  part  of  the 
Union  was  still  suffering  from  the  disreputation 
brought  on  it  by  the  legal  tender,  which,  before  it 
was  put  an  end  to,  had  not  only  produced  a  total 
stagnation  of  trade,  and  had  brought  ruin  upon  thou- 
sands of  people,  but  it  had  begun  to  drive  the  people 
out  of  the  State ;  and,  had  it  not  been  put  an  end 
to,  the  State  would  long  ago  have  been  wholly  depo- 
pulated. 

But  we  need  not  go  abroad  for  any  thing  to  con- 
vince us  of  the  settled  opinions  of  statesmen  and 
politicians  as  to  the  effects  of  a  legal  tender  in  pa- 
per. We  have  only  to  look  into  our  own  Statute- 
Book,  where  we  shall  find  the  thing  sufficiently  re- 
probated, as  in  the  Act  passed  in  the  year  1763, 
which  declares  such  a  tender  to  be  discouraging 
and  prejudicial  to  trade  and  commerce,  and  the 
cause  of  confusion  in  dealings,  and  a  lessening  of 
credit,  in  the  Provinces  where  it  was  in  use  ;  and, 
having  declared  this  ;  having  laid  down  these  as 
principles,  the  Act  goes  on  to  forbid  the  issuing  of 
any  more  such  paper ;  it  makes  void  all  Acts  of  As- 
sembly thereafter  passed  to  establish  or  keep  up  such 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  227 

tender ;  and  it  inflicts  a  fine  of  1,OOOZ.  (with  imme- 
diate dismission,  and  future  incapacity  to  fill  any 
public  office  or  place  of  trust)  on  any  Governor,  who 
shall  give  his  assent  to  such  Act  of  Legal  Tender.* 
Mr.  HUSKISSON,  who  was  one  of  the  Bullion  Com- 
mittee, of  the  labours  of  which  we  shall  soon  see  a 
good  deal ;  Mr.  HUSKISSON,  who  enjoys  a  large  pen- 
sion, paid  out  of  the  taxes  raised  upon  the  people, 
and  who,  therefore,  ought  to  understand  something 
of  such  matters  ;  this  Mr.  HUSKISSON  (of  whom  I 
shall  have  to  tell  you  a  great  deal  before  we  have 
done)  has  just  published  a  pamphlet,  under  the  title 
of,  "  The  Question  concerning  the  Depreciation  of 
our  Currency  stated  and  examined ;"  to  the  doing  of 
which  he  was,  it  would  seem,  like  Rosa  Matilda, 
reluctantly  forced  by  the  pressing  partiality  of 
friends.  This  Mr.  Huskisson,  in  his  pamphlet, 
which  is,  apparently,  intended  to  justify  his  conduct 
as  a  member  of  the  Bullion  Committee,  has  said, 
that  "  if  it  had  been  proposed,  at  once  to  make  bank 
notes  a  legal  tender,  and,  in  direct  terms,  to  enact, 
that  every  man  should  thenceforward  be  obliged  to 
receive  them  as  equivalent  to  the  gold  coin  of  the 
realm,  such  a  proposition  would  have  excited  uni- 
versal alarm,  and  would  have  forcibly  drawn  the 

*  FOURTH  YEAR  GEO.  III.  Chap.  34.  An  Act  to  prevent 
Paper  Bills  of  Credit,  hereafter  to  be  issued  in  any  of  nis  Ma- 
jesty's Colonies  or  Plantations,  in  America,  from  being  de- 
clared to  be  a  legal  tender  in  Payments  of  Money ;  and  to 
prevent  the  legal  tender  of  such  bills  as  are  now  subsisting 
from  being  prolonged  beyond  the  periods  limited  for  calling 

in  and  sinking  the  same. Whereas  great  quantities  of 

Paper  Bills  of  Credit  have  been  created  and  issued  in  his  Ma- 
jesty's Colonies  or  Plantations  in  America,  by  virtue  of  Acts 
Orders,  Resolutions,  or  Votes  of  Assembly,  making  and  de- 
claring such  Bills  of  Credit  to  be  legal  Tender  in  payments  of 
Money.  And  whereas  such  Bills  of  Credit  have  greatly  de- 
preciated in  their  value,  by  means  whereof  Debts  have  been 
discharged  with  a  much  less  value  than  was  contracted  for, 
to  the  great  discouragement  and  prejudice  of  the  Trade  and 
Commerce,  of  his  Majesty's  Subjects,  by  occasioning  Confu- 
sion in  Dealings,  and  lessening  Credit  in  the  said  Colonies 
j  or  Plantations : The  Act  then  proceeds  as  above  described. 


228  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

attention  of  the  legislature  and  the  public  to  the  na- 
ture of  our  circulation  and  to  the  consequences  ot 
r-uch  an  innovation.  But,  certainly,  nothing  of  the 
sort  was  in  the  contemplation  of  any  man  when 
first  the  Suspension-Act  was  passed."  But,  is  this 
t rue,  Mr.  Huskisson  ?  Your  memory  fails  you,  I 
hope  ;  for,  not  only  was  it  in  the  contemplation  of 
many  persons  ;  but  several  persons  said,  that,  in 
effect,  the  bank  notes  would  become  a  legal  tender, 
and  that  they  would,  of  course,  depreciate. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  at  all  times  right,  that  the  truth 
should  be  known,  respecting  the  conduct  and  the 
characters  of  men  in  any  wise  intrusted  with  the 
management  of  the  public  affairs  ;  and,  at  this  time, 
and  especially  as  relating  to  this  most  important 
subject,  it  is  right  that  no  part  of  the  truth  should 
be  hidden.  With  this  conviction  in  my  mind,  I 
shall  be  rather  minute  in  my  references  to  what  was 
said  at  the  time  when  the  Act  of  1797,  which  pro- 
tected the  Bank  against  the  demands  of  the  note- 
holders, was  under  discussion. 

The  bill,  as  was  stated  in  my  last,  was  moved  for 
by  Mr.  PITT,  on  the  9th  of  March ;  and,  during  the 
debate  of  that  very  day,  Mr.  Fox  contended,  that, 
if  the  bill  passed,  the  property  of  the  Stock-holder 
must,  at  once,  be  depreciated  in  value ;  and  Mr. 
SHERIDAN  said,  that  "  he  believed  we  should  not 
long  be  able,  after  the  inundation  of  paper  to  which 
this  system  gave  birth,  to  stop  them  from  making 
bank  notes  a  legal  tender,  and  then  adieu  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  specie  at  the  Bank,  and  soon  afterwards, 
to  the  real  value  of  the  banknote."  When  the  bill 
was  under  discussion,  on  the  27th  of  March,  Mr. 
PITT  having  said,  that  the  clause,  respecting  the  bar 
to  arrests  for  debt,  did  not  go  the  length  of  making 
bank  notes  a  legal  tender,  nor  to  take  away  the 
power  of  the  creditor  to  pursue  the  debtor  in  the 
usual  course  of  law,  in  order  to  obtain  payment  in 
cash,  Sir  FRANCIS  BARING  said,  that  he  saw  no 
means  of  avoiding  the  evil  to  be  apprehended  by 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  229 

bankers  and  merchants,  but  that  of  making  bank 
notes  a  legal  tender ;  and  Mr.  DENT  was  for  ma- 
king bank  notes  a  legal  tender  during  the  suspen- 
sion of  cash  payments.  Now,  what  did  Mr.  PITT 
say,  in  answer  to  this  suggestion  from  his  friends? 
He  said,  that  "as  to  making  bank  notes  a  legal 
tender,  he  thought,  that,  if  it  was  possible  to  meet 
the  present  difficulty  without  it,  it  ought  to  be  met 
without  it ;  that,  upon  a  subject  of  so  much  difficulty 
and  uncertainty,  no  man  could  speak  with  confi- 
dence ;  but,  that  as  long  as  the  circulation  rested 
upon  paper  taken  by  consent,  he  thought  it  would 
not  be  adviseable  to  have  it  taken  by  compulsion" 
Upon  this  ground,  the  Act  was  passed  ;  and,  it  is 
very  clear,  that  one  of  the  objects  of  the  short  du- 
ration of  the  first  Act,  which  was  passed  for  only  51 
days,  was,  to  see  whether  people  were  inclined  to 
have  recourse  to  the  law,  to  compel  payments  in 
cash  for  debts  due  from  private  individuals  to  other 
private  individuals.  Every  means,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  been  taken  to  prevent  this.  A  planned  Meeting 
of  Bankers  and  Merchants  had  been  held  at  the 
Mansion  House,  in  London,  and  its  resolutions  for 
taking  and  circulating  bank  notes  had  been  issued 
under  the  sanction  of  the  then  Lord  Mayor.  Simi- 
I  lar  resolutions  had  been  issued  from  the  several 
1  benches  of  Justices  at  the  quarter  sessions,  in  all 
the  counties ;  and,  indeed,  as  these  resolutions  were 
signed  by  the  Clerks  of  the  Peace,  and  had  about 
them  all  the  air  of  acts  of  authority,  the  effect  upon 
the  farmers  and  tradesmen,  in  general,  was  nearly 
:he  same  as  that  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  making 
3ank  notes  a  legal  tender.  If  these  means  had 
failed,  however,  there  can,  I  think,  be  very  little 
loubt,  thaj;  the  measure  of  making  bank  notes  a 
legal  tender  would  have  been  adopted  ;  for,  the  only 
reason  which  PITT  offers,  as  we  see  above,  for  not 
doing  it  at  once,  is,  that  the  people  seemed,  at  pre- 
vent, to  be  disposed  to  take  the  bank  notes  as  cash, 
tyithout  compulsion;  and,  he  very  clearly  meant, 
20 


230  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

that,  if  the  people  refused  to  consider  them  as  cash, 
compulsion  must  and  would  be  resorted  to. 

And  yet,  after  all  this,  and  with  these  facts  re- 
corded in  the  Parliamentary  proceedings  of  the  time, 
Mr.  HUSKISSON,  who  was  actually  in  office  under 
PJTT,  or  DUNDAS,  when  the  measure  was  discussed  ; 
with  all  this  before  his  eyes,  this  gentleman  tells  the 
public,  that  neither  the  making  bank  notes  a  legal 
tender,  nor  any  thing  of  the  sort,  was  in  the  con- 
templation of  any  man  at  the  time  when  the  Act 
for  the  suspension  of  cash  payments  was  passed ; 
and  that  any  proposition  of  the  kind  would  have 
excited  universal  alarm,  and  would  have  forcibly 
drawn  the  attention  of  the  legislature  and  the  public 
to  the  possible  consequences  of  such  an  innovation ! 

Here,  gentlemen,  we  have  an  instance  either  of 
the  incorrectness,  I  might  say,  the  ignorance,  or 
the  insincerity,  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  who,  to  say  the 
truth,  is  not  without  his  temptations,  as  we  shall  by- 
and-by  see,  to  draw  a  veil  over  the  origin  and  the 
conduct  of  the  originators  of  the  measure  of  pro- 
tecting the  Bank  against  the  demands  of  the  note- 
holders ;  to  do  which,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
either  to  make  bank  notes  a  legal  tender,  or  to  do 
something  that  should  answer  the  same  purpose. 
To  makelhem  a  legal  tender  by  law,  at  once,  would, 
indeed,  have  been  a  thing  so  shameful  as  not  to  be 
endured,  in  the  face  of  the  principles  laid  down  by 
the  Parliament,  in  the  Act  of  the  4th  year  of  Geo. 
III.  above  quoted.  To  pass  a  law  making  English 
bank  notes  a  legal  tender,  putting  English  bank 
notes  upon  a  level  with  the  colonial  paper  mentioned 
in  that  Act ;  to  make  bank  notes  the  degraded  thing 
there  described,  was  what  could  not  be  thought  ofj 
until  all  the  means  of  avoiding  it  had  been  tried ; 
but,  it  is,  nevertheless,  very  clear,  that  if  the  circu- 
lating ;  if  the  promulgating  (with  all  the  appearance 
of  official  authority)  of  the  resolutions  from  the 
Mansion  House,  and  from  the  benches  of  county 
Justices ;  it  is  very  clear,  that  if  these  had  failed  in 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  231 

giving  currency  to  the  bank  notes,  these  notes  would 
nave  been  made  a  legal  tender  in  all  cases,  and  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  whatever.  They  are  a  legal 
tender  from  the  Bank  itself.  They  are  a  legal 
tender  to  the  Stock-holder  in  payment  of  his  divi- 
dends. No  man  can  sue  the  Bank  Company  on  ac- 
count of  their  refusing  to  give  him  gold  for  any  of 
their  promissory  notes,  of  which  he  may  be  the 
holder ;  nor  can  any  Stock-holder  sue  the  Bank 
Company  on  account  of  a  refusal  to  pay  him  the 
amount  of  his  dividends  in  cash. 

They  are  certainly  not  a  legal  tender  between 
man  and  man,  any  farther  than  as  far  as  relates  to 
the  barring  of  an  arrest  and  of  the  necessity  of  spe- 
cial bail.  You  cannot  arrest,  or  demand  special 
bail  from,  the  debtor,  who  tenders  you  the  amount 
of  your  debt  in  Bank  of  England  notes  ;  but  you 
may  sue  him  in  the  other  way.  The  tender  of  bank 
notes  secures  the  debtor  from  arrest,  and  from  being 
obliged  to  give  special  bail,  in  the  first  instance  ; 
but,  it  does  not  protect  him  against  being  finally 
compelled  to  pay  in  cash.  If,  for  instance,  GRIZZLE 
GREENHORN  owes  either  of  you  a  hundred  pounds ; 
or,  which  is  a  better  illustration,  perhaps  ;  if  you 
have  in  your  hands  a  hundred  and  five  pounds  in 
amount  of  the  notes  of  Messrs.  PAPERKITE  and  Co., 
Country  Bankers,  and  you  have  a  mind  to  have  gold 
for  those  notes,  looking  forward  to  a  time  when  you 
may  want  them,  and  having  a  greater  attachment  to 
the  King's  picture  than  to  the  arms  and  crests  of 
Paperkite  and  Co.  In  such  a  case,  you  go  to  Paper- 
kite  with  his  notes,  and  demand  payment  of  them. 
He  tenders  you,  as  a  matter  of  course,  Bank  of  Eng 
land  notes  to  the  amount  of  those  of  his  own  which 
you  present  for  payment ;  but  you,  in  pursuance  of 
your  design  to  be  possessed  of  a  hundred  of  the 
King's  pictures,  demand  gold,  and  stick  to  that  de- 
mand. If  he  cannot,  or  will  not,  pay  you  in  gold, 
you  cannot  arrest  him,  or  compel  him  to  put  in  spe- 
cial bail ;  but,  you  can  bring  the  ordinary  action  of 


232  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

debt  against  him,  the  decision  of  which  is  sure  to  be 
in  your  favour,  with  the  usual  costs,  and,  while  the 
action  is  going  on,  he  is  obliged  to  deposit  the  Bank 
of  England  notes  in  court,  as  the  ground  of  being 
protected  in  the  meanwhile  against  arrest  and  against 
the  demand  of  special  bail ;  and,  if  he  does  not 
make  this  deposit,  you  can  even  arrest  him,  as  in 
any  other  case  of  refusal  or  inability  to  pay. 

Thus,  gentlemen,  stands  the  law,  with  regard  to 
the  legality  of  a  tender  of  Bank  of  England  notes. 
The  Tax-gatherer  cannot  refuse  them  in  payment  of 
taxes;  the  Stock-holder  cannot  refuse  them  in  pay- 
ment of  his  dividends;  and  the  note-holder  cannot 
demand  coin  for  them  of  the  Bank  Company  or  of 
any  body  else,  of  whom  he  has  once  received  them 
in  payment ;  but  any  private  individual  may  refuse 
them  in  payment  of  money  due  to  him  from  any  body 
but  the  Bank  Company  ;  and  may  proceed  to  recover 
payment  in  real  money,  in  the  way  above  described. 

Thinking  it  desirable  to  keep  this  subject  of  the 
Legal  Tender  distinct  from  that  of  the  Duration 
of  the  Act  of  1797,  and  having  necessarily  a  good 
deal  to  say  upon  the  latter  subject,  and  much  inter- 
esting matter  to  develop,  I  shall  not  enter  thereon 
till  my  next  Letter, ;  and.  in  the  mean  while, 
I  remain,  Gentlemen, 
Your  faithful  friend. 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  November  19th,  1810. 


LETTER  XVIII. 


"He  hoped  gentlemen  would  direct  their  most  serious  attention  to  t'ne  sub 
ject.  The  bill  was  of  the  utmost  importance;  if  a  paper  currency  were 
once  established,  how  could  it  be  got  rid  of?  If  gold  and  silver  wore  once 
driven  out  of  circulation,  how  were  they  to  be  recovered  J  The  sure  con- 
sequences of  paper  currency  would  be  a  debt  so  enormous  that,  it.  would 
never  be  removed.  The  old  debts  and  the  new  would  vanish  together,  and 
the  funded  property  wpul  I  sink  with  them.  A  revolution  in  property  mijrht 
produce  a  revolution  in  Government,  and  all  those  scenes  of  blood  which 
liad  disgraced  Franco."— Mr.  Nicholls.  Debate,  27th  March,  1797.  On  the 
Bank  Restriction  Bill. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  233 

Duration  of  the  Bank  Stoppage  or  Restriction  Act— Reca- 
pitulation of  the  Dates  of  the  principal  Occurrences  leading 
to  the  Act— Apparent  Reluctance  with  which  the  Bank 
Company  submitted  to  the  Restriction— They  now  discover 
that  they  have  no  Objection  to  be  restrained— Mr.  Huskis- 
son  says  that  the  Duration  could  not  have  been  foreseen — 
The  probable  Reason  of  this— Mr.  Huskisson's  Places  and 
Pensions— Such  a  person  ought  to  have  foreseen  the  con- 
sequences of  the  Act— Others  did  foresee  them. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WE  now  come  to  that  subject  which  naturally 
connects  the  proceedings  and  measures  of  1797, 
with  the  Report  of  the  Bullion  Committee,  namely, 
the  DURATION  of  the  Act  of  1797;  that  Act, 
which  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the 
Bank  Company  against  the  legal  demands  of  the 
holders  of  its  promissory  notes,  and  which  Act,  as 
you  will  not  fail  to  bear  in  mind,  arose  out  of  an 
alarm  felt  by  the  Bank  Company  for  the  safety  of 
their  House.  It  is  very  material  to  keep  constantly 
in  view  the  progress  which  ended  in  the  passing  of 
this  Act,  which,  as  you  will  have  already  perceived, 
did,  in  fact,  decide  the  fate  of  the  paper-money  in 
England ;  and,  therefore,  I  will  here,  again,  place 
before  you  a  recapitulation  of  the  dates  of  the  prin- 
cipal occurrences. 

February  21st,  1797,  the  Directors  of  the  Bank  "ob- 
served, with  great  uneasiness,  the  large  and  con- 
stant decrease  in  their  cash;"  a  deputation  of 
them  went  to  the  Minister  (Pitt)  to  make  him  ac- 
quainted therewith  \  and,  as  they  attributed  the 
run  to  the  alarm  of  invasion,  they  begged  of  the 
Minister  to  say  something  in  Parliament,  "  in  or- 
der to  ease  the  public  mind  upon  the  score." 
February  24th.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Directors,  it  ap- 
peared that  the  "  loss  of  cash  yesterday,  was  above 
£  ,  and  that  about  £  *  were  already  drawn 
out  this  day,  which  gave  such  an  alarm  for  the 
safety  of  the  House"  that  a  deputation  was  sent 

*  There  were  no  sums  inserted.     The  statement  of  sums 
was  left  in  blank,  as  it  is  here. 
20* 


234  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

to  Mr.  Pitt,  to  ask  him  when  he  would  think  it 
necessary  to  interfere.  At  this  meeting  with  the 
Minister,  it  was  agreed,  that  a  resolution  should 
be  by  him  prepared  to  bring  before  the  Council, 
for  stopping  payments  in  cash  ;  also,  that  a  gene- 
ral meeting  of  Bankers  and  Merchants  should  be 
contrived,  in  order  to  pass  resolutions  to  support 
public  credit;  and  the  Minister,  at  the  recommend- 
ation of  the  Deputation,  agreed  to  get  a  private 
meeting  of  the  chief  bankers  at  his  house,  the  next 
day,  in  order  then  to  lay  the  plan  for  a  general 
meeting. 

February  26th.  The  Order  of  Council  was  issued, 
stating,  that  the  Minister  had  given  the  Council 
such  information  relating  to  a  run  upon  the  Bank, 
as  induced  the  Council  to  require,  and  they,  there- 
fore, did  require,  the  Bank  Company  to  forbear 
issuing1  any  cash  in  payments,  until  the  sense  of 
Parliament  should  be  taken  upon  the  subject. 

February  27th.  An  immense  crowd  of  people  as- 
sembled early  in  the  morning  at  the  doors  of  the 
Bank,  and  in  Threadneedle-street,  in  order  to  get 
gold  for  the  notes  they  held ;  but,  instead  of  gold, 
they  received  a  notification,  that  they  might  have 
bank  notes  lent  to  them  in  discounts,  and  that  the 
dividends,  or  interests  upon  stock,  would  be  paid 
in  the  same  manner.  Whereupon  they  retired, 
shaking  their  long  ears,  and  consoling  themselves 
with  the  hope,  that  they  would  get  gold  in  a  week 
or  two, 

On  the  very  same  day,  (27th  February,)  the  general 
Meeting  of  Bankers  and  Merchants,  which  had 
been  proposed  to  the  Minister  by  the  Bank  Direc- 
tors, was  held  at  the  Mansion-House,  in  London; 
that  is  to  say,  the  State-House  of  the  Lord  Mayor 
(Brook  Watson)  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
City,  who  was  Chairman  of  the  Meeting,  and 
who  signed  the  Resolutions,  to  which,  therefore, 
the  air  of  authority  was  given. 

February  28th.      The  Privy  Council,  including  all 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  235 

the  Ministers,  of  course,  had  a  Meeting,  and  sign- 
ed an  agreement  to  take  and  give  bank  notes  in 
the  same  way  as  the  Bankers  and  Merchants  who 
had  signed  their  resolutions. 

March  2d.  The  Magistrates  met  at  the  Quarter 
Sessions,  for  the  County  of  Surrey,  signed  an 
agreement  of  the  same  sort,  which  was  promulga- 
ted "  by  order  of  the  Court"  and  was  signed,  like 
any  other  magisterial  act,  by  the  Clerk  of  the 
Peace.  The  like  was  done  in  all  the  other  counties. 

March  3d.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Bank  Company, 
consisting  of  the  Bank  Proprietors  in  general,  was 
passed  an  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Di- 
rectors, for  having  obeyed  the  Order  in  Council, 
and  for  having  refused  to  pay  in  cash.  From 
this  Meeting,  it  was  promulgated,  that  no  appli- 
cation had  been  made  by  the  Bank  Directors  for 
the  order  to  withhold  cash  ;  that  the  measure  was 
not  adopted  at  the  instance  of  those  concerned 
in  the  direction  of  the  Bank  ;  that  they  complied 
with  the  order,  understanding  it  to  have  been 
dictated  by  national  policy,  and  meant  to  operate 
only  for  a  short  time ;  that  their  affairs  were  in  a 
state  of  the  greatest  affluence,  and  that  they  earn- 
estly hoped  they  would  soon  be  PERMITTED 
to  pay  their  notes  in  cash  in  the  same  manner  as 
they  had  formerly  done. 

March  9th.  The  Ministers  moved  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  sanction 
what  had  been  done  by  the  Privy  Council,  and  by 
the  Bank  Directors ;  to  protect  both  against  any 
legal  proceedings  for  having  done  an  unlawful 
act ;  and  to  authorize  the  Bank  Company  to 
CONTINUE  to  refuse  to  pay  their  notes  in  cash, 
for  a  certain  time  to  be  named. 

May  3d.  This  Bill  became  a  law  ;  and,  by  it  the 
Bank  Company  were  authorised  to  refuse  to  pay 
their  promissory  notes  in  cash,  until  the  2&th  of 
June,  in  that  same  year;  that  is  to  say,  for  fifty- 
two-days. 


236  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Such,  gentlemen,  was  the  progress  which  ended 
in  the  passing  of  the  Cash  Stopping  Act,  which  is 
generally  called  the  BANK  RESTRICTION  Act,  and 
which,  to  those  from  whom  the  above  facts  have 
been  kept  hidden,  would,  from  this  name,  as  well  as 
from  the  language  of  the  Act  itself,  appear  to  have 
been  made  without  any  application  for  such  a  mea- 
sure on  the  part  of  the  Bank  Company,  and  even 
against  the  wishes  of  that  Company,  who  would, 
from  outward  appearances,  be  looked  upon  as  being 
compelled,  against  their  will,  to  refuse  cash  payments 
of  their  promissory  notes;  and  to  yield  to  this  com- 
pulsion without  remonstrating,  merely  from  their 
sense  of  loyalty  and  public  spirit. 

These  outward  appearances,  however,  have  nearly 
lost  their  effect ;  and  it  certainly  would  be  something 
very  wonderful,  indeed,  if  they  had  not,  seeing  that 
the  advocates  of  the  Bank  now  complain,  not  of  the 
"  restriction,"  but  of  the  Bullion  Committee,  who 
have  proposed  to  remove  the  restriction  at  the  end 
of  two  years !  Oh  !  this  is  delightful.  This  is, 
perhaps,  the  finest  instance  of  putting  professions  to 
the  test  that  ever  was  heard  of  in  the  world.  Here 
are  the  Bank  Company  restrained;  they  are  re- 
strained from  paying  their  promissory  notes  in 
the  current  coin  of  the  kingdom ;  there  is,  which 
seems  very  hard,  a  law  to  prevent  them  from  paying 
in  gold ;  they  would  seem  to  have  been  so  eager  to 
do  it,  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  pass  a  law 
to  hold  in  their  hands.  Well.  You  have,  say  the 
Bullion  Committee,  endured  this  restraint  for  thir- 
teen long  years,  which  is  long  enough  in  all  con- 
science, and,  therefore,  we  will  remove  this  re- 
straint ;  we  will  permit  you  to  pay  in  gold.  This 
kind  proposition,  however,  instead  of  calling  forth 
expressions  of  joy  and  gratitude,  throws  the  advo- 
cates of  the  Bank  Company  into  the  utmost  conster- 
nation and  dismay,  and  they  abuse  the  Bullion  Com- 
mittee as  men  who  have  aimed  a  blow  at  the  very 
vitals  of  public  credit.  Alas !  what,  then,  the  Bank 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  237 

•j 

Company  were  not  so  uneasy  as  we  thought  under 
this  restraint?  They  did  not  complain  and  moan, 
in  secret,  as  we  supposed  they  did,  at  being  restrain- 
ed from  paying  their  promissory  notes  ?  Nay,  hy  all 
that  is  wonderful,  it  would  seem  that  they  like  to  be 
restrained  ? 

To  return  from  this  digression,  into  which  I  was 
drawn  by  this  strange  perversity  of  taste  in  the 
Bank  Company,  let  us  now,  after  having  refreshed 
our  memories  as  to  the  progress  which  led  to  the 
passing  of  the  Cash  Stopping,  or  Bank  Restriction 
Act,  see  by  what  means,  and  upon  what  grounds,  it 
has  been  continued  in  force  from  the  3d  of  May, 
1797,  to  this  day ;  and  here,  gentlemen,  you  will 
find  the  most  curious  and  most  valuable  part  of  this 
most  curious  and  most  valuable  history. 

One  of  the  objects  which  we  ought  to  have  in 
view,  is,  to  ascertain,  and  not  only  to  ascertain,  but 
to  put  safely  upon  record,  so  that  they  may  be  turned 
to  at  any  moment,  the  names  of  as  many  as  possible 
of  those,  who  had  a  hand,  who  really  aided  and 
abetted,  the  measure -of  what  is  called  the  Bank 
Restriction,  that  is  to  say,  the  Act  to  bear  the 
Bank  Company  harmless  in  refusing  payment  of  its 
promissory  notes.  The  Bullion  Committee  have 
desciibed  the  consequences  of  that  measure ;  they 
have  plainly  told  us  what  mischiefs  have  arisen 
from  it;  they  have  told  us  how  very  injuriously  it 
has  operated  towards  creditors  of  all  descriptions, 
but  they  have  been  wholly  silent  as  to  the  parties  by 
whom  the  fatal  measure  was  promoted  and  brought 
about,  as  well  as  to  the  parties  by  whom  it  was  op- 
posed;  and  they  have  also  been  quite  silent  as  to 
the  grounds,  upon  which  the  Act  authorizing  the 
refusal  of  cash  has,  from  time  to  time,  been  conti- 
nued from  May  3d,  1797,  to  the  present  day.  Nay, 
Mr.  HUSKISSON,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Bullion 
Committee,  who,  not  content  with  the  share  he  took 
in  the  labours  of  the  Committee,  has,  as  we  saw  in 
Letter  XVII.,  published  a  pamphlet  upon  the  sub- 


238  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ject ;  has  not  only  avoided  to  say  who  it  was  that 
was  the  cause  of  the  Act,  hut  would  seem  to  wish 
his  readers  to  believe,  that  those  who  caused  that 
Act  to  be  passed,  could  have  no  idea  of  its  being 
continued  so  long,  and  the  inference  he  leaves  to  be 
drawn  is,  that  THOSE  PERSONS  have  not  been  the 
cause  of  such  continuance. 

To  explain  satisfactorily  the  probable  reason  why 
Mr.  HUSKISSON  endeavours  to  give  this  turn  to  the 
thing,  it  might,  perhaps,  be  sufficient  to  tell  you, 
that  he  himself  has  been  steadily  on  the  side  of  the 
Minister  at  the  time  when  the  first  Act  was  passed, 
in  1797,  and,  also,  at  every  renewal  of  that  Act. 
This  might  suffice,  in  explanation  of  this  part  of 
Mr.  HUSKISSON'S  conduct ;  but  I  must  not  omit  this 
opportunity  of  introducing  this  gentleman  to  you  in 
form.  He  is  one  of  the  men,  whom  you  help  to 
pay  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  you  will  nave  to  pay 
nim  as  long  as  he  lives.  Therefore,  you  have  a 
perfect  right  to  know  who  and  what  he  is ;  what  he 
has  done,  and  what  he  is  likely  to  da,  for  the  people 
of  England. 

Mr.  WILLIAM  HUSKISSON,  the  author  of  the  pam- 
phlet mentioned  in  my  last,  owes  what  he  has  got, 
not  to  any  family  connexion,  but  solely  to  his  own 
personal  exertions,  having,  in  his  early  days,  been, 
according  to  some,  an  Apothecary,  and,  according  to 
others,  a  Banker.  He  did  not  waste  the  precious 
days  of  his  youth  at  schools  and  colleges,  learning 
Latin  and  laziness.  Like  you  and  me,  gentlemen, 
he  owes  nothing  to  pedagogues,  or  to  pedigree ;  and 
though  he  does  not  belong  to  that  class  of  men 
whom  PAINE  calls  the  Nobles  of  Nature,  yet,  were 
Nature  to  give  titles,  she  would  certainly  dub  Mr. 
Huskisson  a  Knight.  This  gentleman  was  in 
France  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  ANTI-JACOBIN 
war ;  that  is  to  say,  the  war  which  began  in  1793, 
and  which,  as  we  have  seen,  produced  such  effects 
upon  the  bank-note  system.  He  appears,  from  a 
French  pamphlet  which  I  have  in  my  possession,  to 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  239 

nave  been  a  very  ardent  friend  of  the  French  revo- 
lution, at  the  outset,  and  a  speech  of  his,  delivered 
in  a  Club  at  Paris,  upon  funds  and  tithes,  it  would 
do  your  hearts  good  to  hear.  From  Paris,  however, 
Mr.  Huskisson  returned  to  England,  in  1793,  having 
come  away  upon  the  recall  of  our  ambassador,  Lord 
Gower,  now  Marquis  of  Stafford,  to  whom,  it  is 
said,  he  had  been  useful  at  Paris,  and  who  is  said  in 
return  to  have  recommended  him  to  the  notice  of 
those  two  worthy  associates  in  power,  and  never-to- 
be-forgotten  ministers,  PITT  and  DUNDAS.  They 
found  him  useful ;  and,  though  his  outset  was  low, 
he  found  himself,  at  the  end  of  less  than  seven 
years,  an  Under  Secretary  of  State,  in  the  Colo- 
nial Department,  and  a  Member  of  Parliament. 
In  the  winter  of  1801,  when  PITT  and  DUNDAS  went 
out  of  office,  Mr.  HUSKISSON  followed  them,  but  not 
without  taking  care  to  cast  a  look  behind  him ;  and, 
by  the  advice  of  Mr.  ADDINGTON,  the  successor  of 
Mr.  PITT,  our  author  had  conferred  on  him  a  PEN- 
SION, for  life,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  taxes  raised  on 
the  people,  to  the  amount  of  1200/.  a  year ;  and,  af- 
terwards, a  pension,  to  be  paid  from  the  same  source, 
was  settled  upon  his  wife,  Mrs.  ELIZA  EMILY  HUS- 
KISSON, to  the  amount  of  £615  a  year  for  her  life,  to 
commence  at  her  husband's  death.  What  a  nice 
comfortable  way  this  is,  gentlemen,  to  make  provi- 
sion for  one's  wife  and  family !  Mr.  HUSKISSON'S 
pension  was  to  be  suspended  whenever  he  should 
be  in  possession  of  an  office  of  the  annual  value  of 
£2,000  a  year,  or  upwards  ;  and,  when  he  quitted 
such  office,  he  was  again  to  receive  the  pension.  So 
that  he  made  sure  of  £1,200  a  year  for  life,  and  615 
pounds  a  year  for  the  life  of  his  wife,  if  she  should 
out  live  him.  This  shewed  not  only  a  very  provi- 
dent, but  a  very  affectionate  disposition.  But,  our 
author  did  not  stop  here ;  for  he  obtained  the  Agent- 
shif)  of  the  island  of  Ceylon,  acknowledged  by  him- 
sell  to  be  worth  700  pounds  a  year,  and  this  he  still 
held  along  with  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 


240  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

sury,  which  he  got  in  1804,  and  which,  at  £4.000  a 
year  salary,  he  held,  with  an  interval  of  about  fifteen 
months,  till  about  October,  1809.  So  that,  while  in 
office,  he  got  £4,700  a  year;  and,  while  out  of  office, 
£1,900  a  year; '£1,200  of  which  he  has  for  life^ 
with  a  provision  of  £615  a  year  for  the  life  of  his 
wife,  if  she  should  outlive  him. 

Such,  gentlemen,  is  the  history  of  the  public  life 
of  the  author  of  the  pamphlet,  of  which  1  am  about 
to  speak.  He  is  now  one  of  the  Members  of  Par- 
liament for  Harwich  ;  he  was  one  of  the  members 
of  the  BULLION  COMMITTEE,  and  his  pam- 
phlet, the  title  of  which  was  mentioned  in  my  last 
Letter,  has  been  published  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
plaining some  parts,  and  defending  other  parts,  of 
the  famous  and  immortal  Report  of  that  Committee. 

But  as  perfection  is  not  to  be  expected  in  any 
thing  human,  this  Report  omits  to  say  any  thing 
about  the  grounds  of  the  continuance,  or  duration 
of  the  Cash  Stopping,  or  Rank-restricting  Act ; 
and  Mr.  HUSKISSON  seems  to  think  it  incumbent 
upon  him  to  say  some  little  matter  upon  that  subject. 
He  put  himself  in  a  ticklish  predicament,  when  he 
took  up  his  pen  upon  such  a  subject ;  for,  we  have 
seen,  that  he  was  in  office  ;  we  have  seen,  that  he 
was  in  the  receipt  of  the  public  money  from  the 
year  1793  to  the  time  when  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Bullion  Committee ;  we  have  seen,  that,  from 
1804  to  the  end  nearly  of  1809,  (with  the  exception 
of  about  fifteen  months,)  he  was  a  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  it  is  perfectly  notorious,  that  he  was 
what  was  called  the  Minister  PITT'S  right  hand  man ;  ( 
that  he  had,  in  fact,  the  chief  actual  management  of  ' 
the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  Exchequer  and  Treasu- 
ry ;  that  he  was  so  closely  intimate  with  Mr.  PITT, 
that  he  was  one  of  the  few  persons  with  him  when 
he  died  ;  and  that  he  was  one  of  the  witnesses  of  his 
Will,  and  one  of  his  creditors. 

A  person  thus  situated,  ought  to  have  had  some 
knowledge  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  kingdom. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  241 

A  person  thus  situated,  ought  to  have  known  pretty 
well,  the  nature  and  tendency  of  a  measure  like  the 
Cash  Stopping,  or  Bank-restricting  Act.  A  person, 
to  whom  the  people  of  England  pay  4,700  pounds  a 
year  while  he  is  in  office,  and  1.900  a  year  when  he 
is  cut  of  office  ;  a  person,  to  whom,  at  the  very  least, 
we  are  to  pay,  out  of  the  taxes,  1,200  pounds  a  year 
for  his  life,  with  a  contingent  615  pounds  a  year  for 
the  life  of  his  wife.  Such  a  person,  gentlemen, 
ought  to  have  a  mind  capable  of  extending  its  in- 
quiries and  conclusions  beyond  the  present  moment; 
and,  in  a  case  like  that  of  the  Stopping  or  Restrict- 
ing Act,  to  be  able  to  foresee  the  consequences  that 
will  result.  In  short,  the  man,  be  he  who  he  may, 
that  receives  from  the  people  such  pay,  ought,  if  his 
department  be  that  of  the  Treasury,  to  be  ashamed 
to  plead  ignorance  as  to  any  principle,  or  point, 
connected  with  the  subject  before  us. 

Yet,  what  does  Mr.  HUSKTSSON  say,  as  to  the  du- 
ration of  the  Stoppage  or  Restriction  Act?  He  is 
in  a  dilemma.  To  pass  over  the  matter  in  silence, 
will  not  do,  because  he  is  compelled  to  speak  of  the 
injuries  arising  from  the  long  duration  of  the  Act; 
and  to  censure  the  passing  of  the  Act  will  not  do, 
because  it  is  so  well  known  that  he  was  in  office 
when  it  was  first  passed,  and,  also,  when  it  was 
twice  or  three  times  renewed.  In  this  difficulty,  he 
has  recourse  to  a  plea,  which  he  does  not  appear  to 
conceive  makes  against  himself.  He  wishes  his 
reader  to  gather  from  what  is  said,  that  those  uho 
were  the  cause  of  the  Act  originally,  never  could 
dream  of  its  being  continued  in  force  so  long.  He 
says,  that  that  Act  was,  when  first  passed,  "  consi- 
dered and  proposed,  as  an  expedient  that  should  be 
of  short  duration,  the  course  of  the  proceedings  of 
Parliament  abundantly  indicates ;  but  if,  in  the 
year  1797,  it  had  been  foreseen,  that  this  temporary 
expedient  would  be  attempted  to  be  converted  into 
a  system  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years,  and 
that,  under  this  system,  in  the  year  1810,  every  cre- 
21 


242  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ditor,  public  or  private,  subject  or  alien,  to  whom  the 
law,  as  it  then  stood,  and  as  it  now  stands,  had  se- 
cured the  payment  of  a  pound  weight  of  standard 
gold  for  every  £46  14s.  6rf.  of  his  just  demand, 
would  be  obliged  to  accept,  in  full  satisfaction,  about 
IQf  ounces,  or  not  more  than  seventeen  shillings  in 
the  pound ;  with  a  prospect  of  a  still  further  re- 
duction  in  every  subsequent  year : — it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  that  the  attention  and  feelings  of  par- 
liament would  not  have  been  alive  to  all  the  indi- 
vidual injustice,  and  ultimate  public  calamities,  in- 
cident to  such  a  state  of  things ;  and  that  they  would 
not  have  provided  for  the  termination  of  1he  re- 
striction,  before  it  should  have  wrought  so  much 
mischief,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  so  much  confu- 
sion in  all  the  dealings  and  transactions  of  the  com- 
munity." 

Here  are  two  questions :  that  of  the  duration  of 
the  Act,  and  that  of  the  depreciation  of  the  bank 
notes.  The  latter  will  form  the  subject  of  a  subse- 
quent Letter.  As  to  the  former,  Mr.  Huskisson 
would  evidently  have  us  believe,  the  continuation  of 
the  Act  for  any  length  of  time  was  not  foreseen, 
either  by  him,  or  by  any  body  else.  HISTORY,  TRUTH, 
JUSTICE  ;  justice  to  the  living  and  the  dead  :  but  es- 
pecially to  the  dead,  demand  the  proof  of  the  con- 
trary ;  demand  that  you,  gentlemen,  and  that  the 
whole  of  the  people  of  England,  should  know,  that 
if  PITT  and  his  colleagues ;  that,  if  those  to  whom 
we  have  paid  so  many  thousands  and  hundreds 
of  pounds,  in  salaries,  pensions,  allowances,  and 
fees  ;  that,  if  they  did  not  foresee  the  consequences 
of  the  Act  of  May  3,  1797,  there  were  others  who 
did  foresee  those  consequences,  though,  unfortu- 
nately for  the  country,  the  parliament  were  deaf  to 
their  predictions,  and  still  supported  Mr.  Pitt  and 
his  system. 

It  is  now  more  than  THIRTEEN  YEARS  since  this 
Act  was  passed ;  since  this  deed  was  done  ;  since 
the  blow,  under  which  credit  is  now  staggering, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  243 

was  struck ;  but  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  justice 
towards  individuals,  but  to  public  safety,  to  show 
who  it  was  that  did  that  deed,  and  who  it  was  that 
had  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  measures  which  pro- 
duced it,  and  foretold  its  fatal  consequences.  It  is 
now  the  practice  of  the  PITT  school,  when  they 
speak  of  the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction  Act,  to  speak 
of  it  as  of  a  thing  that  nobody  could  help  ;  as  men 
speak  of  a  flood,  or  thunder-storm,  or  any  other  ca- 
lamity, in  the  causing  or  the  preventing  of  which, 
it  is  well  known  that  mankind  can  have  nothing  to 
do.  But,  we  must  not,  Gentlemen,  suffer  them  thus 
to  get  off.  They  have  had  the  sway  in  the  country 
for  the  last  twenty-six  years,  fifteen  months  ex- 
cepted.  They  have  followed  their  own  plans.  They 
have  constantly  insisted  that  theirs  were  the  wisest 
plans.  They  have  made  people  feel  that  it  was  full 
as  safe  to  leave  their  plans  unattacked.  Well.  We 
have  now  the  result  before  us.  PITT,  and  his  ad- 
mirers and  adherents,  have  possessed  the  places  and 
the  powers  of  the  state  for  twenty-six  years  ;  and 
we  now  see  what  are  the  consequences.  Those 
who  like  the  consequences  ;  those  who  think  the 
present  state  of  things  a  good  one,  will,  of  course, 
be  thankful  that  we  have  had  such  men  in  power  ; 
but  those  who,  like  Mr.  HUSKISSON,  are  able  to  dis- 
cover some  grounds  for  apprehension,  must  excuse 
me,  if  I  point  out  those  to  whom  we  owe  the  dan- 
ger ;  or  if,  in  the  words  of  the  old  maxim,  "  I  clap 
the  saddle  upon  the  right  horse." 

This  task  must,  however,  be  reserved  for  my  next ; 
and  in  the  mean  while, 

I  remain,  Gentlemen, 
Your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  November  26, 1810. 


244  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

LETTER  XIX. 

ted  wi 

i  of  Commons.  November  22, 


"  Thus,  the  measure  of  non-payment  orieinated^with  the  persons  hound  to 
pay." — Mr.  Tierney's  Speech  in  the  House  < 


The  Reasons  for  the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction,  Act— Mr.  Pitt 
and  his  Adherents  represent  it  as  of  short  Duration— Mr. 
Fox  and  others  foretell  that  it  will  never  be  repealed  -The 
Dates  of  the  several  Renewals  of  the  Act  —Pretence  for 
the  first  Renewal— Resolution  of  the  Bank  Directors— Re- 
port of  the  Secret  Committee — Pretence  for  the  second  Re- 
newal— Exposure  of  this  by  Mr.  Hobhouse — Miserable  An- 
swer of  the  Minister — Mr.  Tierney's  Exposure  of  the  whole 
Thing— The  Measure  traced  to  the  End  of  the  last  War. 

GENTLEMEN, 

THE  task  first  to  be  performed,  agreeably  to  the 
conclusion  of  my  last  letter,  is,  to  point  out  to  you, 
and  I  natter  myself,  to  your  children's  children, 
those  persons  who  bore  a  distinguished  part  in  the 
discussions  of  the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction,  Act ; 
and,  especially  to  show  you,  that  that  Act  was  not 
a  thing  that  came  like  a  flood  or  like  thunder,  as  Mr. 
Huskisson  appears  to  wish  us  to  believe ;  and  that 
its  duration  was  a  circumstance  which  was  not 
only  foreseen,  but  distinctly  foretold,  by  several  of 
those  persons,  who,  by  the  party  to  which  Mr.  Hus- 
kisson belonged,  were  represented  as  the  enemies  of 
their  country.  The  Bill  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
brought  into  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  9th  of 
March,  and  became  a  law  on  the  3d  of  May.  Be- 
tween these  days  there  were  several  debates  upon 
the  subject ;  and  you  will  now  see,  whether,  as  Mr. 
HUSKISSON  would  have  the  public  believe,  there  was 
nobody  that  could  foresee  or  dream  of  this  long 
continuation  of  the  non-payment  of  cash  at  the 
Bank.  Justice  to  the  dead  as  well  as  to  the  living, 
as  was  before  observed,  demands  that  the  truth  of 
this  fact  should  be  well  known ;  but,  besides  that, 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  here  will  be  of  great 
utility  in  the  guiding  of  our  judgment  for  the  future. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  245 

I  shall,  therefore,  give  the  very  words  of  the  several 
speakers  upon  the  subject,  just  as  they  stand  in  the 
Reports  of  the  Parliamentary  Debates  of  that  time ; 
and,  that  any  one  may,  when  he  pleases,  examine  into 
the  correctness  of  my  statements,  I  shall  give  the  date 
of  the  Debate  from  which  I  make  my  quotations. 

Mr.  PITT,  and  his  adherents,  held  a  language  of 
great  confidence  in  the  solvency,  and  even  in  the 
wealth  of  the  Bank  Company.  You  have  seen, 
that  the  first  Act  of  Stoppage,  or,  as  it  is  called,  of 
Restriction,  was  to  last  for  only  Jiffy-two  days  ; 
which,  of  itself,  amounted  to  a  declaration,  that  the 
Bank  would  be  able  to  resume  their  payments  in  a 
short  time ;  and,  during  the  debates  upon  the  bill,  in 
its  several  stages,  every  thing  was  said  that  could 
be  thought  of,  by  the  Minister  and  his  adherents,  to 
cause  the  public  to  believe,  that  the  suspension  of 
cash-payments  would  be  very  short  indeed.  In  the 
debate  of  the  23d  of  March,  Mr.  WILBERFORCE  said, 
that  "  Gentlemen  did  not  consider  how  much  of  this 
distress  arose  from  the  very  nature  of  our  commer- 
cial dealings.  The  credit  we  gave  was  one  year, 
eighteen  months,  or  two  years,  while  we  paid  at  six 
months  ;  so  that  in  the  progressive  increase  of 
trade  it  was  some  time  before  the  balance  flowed 
in.  The  bad  effects  were  passed,  the  good  were  yet 
to  come"  On  the  24th  of  March,  Mr.  PITT  said, 
that,  "  as  to  the  exact  period,  he  could  make  no  po- 
sitive conjecture  :  for  he  felt  it  difficult  to  say,  whe- 
ther one  month,  or  two,  or  three,  would  be  better. 
But  when  he  reflected,  that  it  must  require  some 
time  for  money  to  circulate  back  from  the  country 
to  the  Bank,  and  also  to  be  refunded  from  abroad, 
and  from  all  the  other  sources  from  which  its  wealth 
may  be  derived,  he  could  not  entertain  a  firm  hope 
that  the  restoration  of  the  Bank  could  be  other  than 
gradual ;  he  would,  therefore,  limit  the  operation  of 
the  present  clause  to  the  24th  of  June,  1797."  On 
the  29th  of  March,  Mr.  LUBBOCK  said,  that  "  if  no 
particular  day  was  fixed,  and  the  Bank  began  to 
21* 


246  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

pay  specie  without  such  notice,  all  would  go  on  gra- 
dually and  smoothly  ;  that  he  was  convinced,  with 
a  very  little  assistance,  that  the  Bank  might  go 
on  as  usual  immediately,  and  discount  freely  ;  if 
£3,000,000  were  added  to  their  capital,  it  would  ena- 
ble the  Bank  to  discount  to  a  much  larger  amount, 
which  would  more  than  accommodate  the  commer- 
cial world  :  and  he  would  venture  to  be  d d,  if 

such  a  sum  would  not  be  subscribed  in  twenty-four 
hours;  this  would  put  all  to  rights."  On  the  31st 
of  March,  Mr.  PITT  said,  "  Leave  the  Bank  and 
them  to  exercise  a  discretion  concerning  it,  which, 
at  all  events,  could  do  no  injury,  and  might,  more 
than  probably  would,  lead  to  the  attainment  of  that 
which  the  Right  Honourable  gentleman  himself 
seemed  so  anxious  for,  namely,  the  restoration  of 
cash  payments  at  the  Bank."  And,  again,  on  the 
same  day  he  said  :  "  Probably  then  the  cash  in  the 
Bank  on  the  25th  of  February  was  not  yet  dimi- 
nished— then,  if  more  cash  came  in,  it  would  gradu- 
ally enable  the  Bank  to  open  again,  and  resume 
its  operations,  by  those  slow  and  successive  steps 
which  would  make  a  resumption  safe." — On  the 
same  day.  Mr.  SAMUEL  THORNTON,  one  of  the  Bank 
Directors,  said,  in  speaking  of  the  clause,  which  in- 
vites people  to  carry  gold  to  deposit  in  the  Bank, 
that,  "  on  the  whole  he  considered  it  as  a  most  im- 
portant measure,  and  that  it  would  enable  the  Bank 
to  resume  its  usual  general  payments  long  ante- 
cedent to  the  period  fixed  for  its  recovery"  Thus 
all  of  them  spoke  either  of  a  gradual  or  a  speedy 
return  to  cash-payments  ;  and  this  last  gentleman,  a 
most  firm  adherent  of  the  Minister,  and  a  Bank  Di-  \ 
rector,  expressed  his  opinion,  that  the  Bank  would 
be  able  to  pay  even  before  the  expiration  of  thejifty- 
two  days,  for  which  the  Act  was  made. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  hear  the  other  side.  You  have 
heard  the  Minister  PITT  and  his  adherents.  Now 
hear  Mr.  Fox  and  those  who  stood  with  him.  But, 
above  all  things,  mark  the  words  of  Mr.  Fox.  Look 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  247 

at  his  predictions;  and,  I  need  not  point  out  to  you, 
how  exactly  they  have  been  accomplished  thus  far, 
and  how  manifest  it  is  that  the  rest  are  in  the  way  of 
speedy  accomplishment.  Mr.  Fox  is  no  more  ;  but 
his  words  will  never  die.  The  evils  he  foretold,  and 
that  he  laboured  to  prevent,  have  ail  come  upon  us, 
or  noAV  menace  us  with  horrid  aspect. 

In  the  debate  of  the  7th  of  March,  Mr.  HOBHOUSE 
said :  "  But  we  are  told  that  this  bill  is  to  exist  for  a 
short  time  only.  Has  the  right  honourable  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  considered  what  is  likely  to 
take  place  when  this  bill  shall  expire  ?  Will  not  the 
holders  of  Bank  of  England  notes,  the  very  moment 
that  the  suspension  of  payment  in  specie  is  at  an 
end,  rush  in  large  bodies  to  the  Bank  and  demand 
specie  ?  Having  been  once  deluded,  will  they  ever 
expose  themselves  to  the  risk  of  being  deluded  a 
second  time ;  having  once  lost  the  opportunity  of 
converting  their  notes  into  specie  by  a  sudden  and 
unexpected  Order  of  Council,  will  they  ever  volun* 
tarily  become  holders  of  such  notes  again?  The 
least  wound  given  to  public  credit  is  not  easily- 
healed  ;  public  confidence  once  lost,  is  not  easily 
recovered."  What  Mr.  NICHOLLS  said,  in  the  debate 
of  the  22d  of  March,  we  have  seen  in  the  Motto  to 
Letter  XVIII.  In  the  same  debate  Mr.  Fox  said, 
that  "  He  knew  not  what  the  duration  of  the  bill 
was  intended  to  be,  whether  for  three  weeks  or  for 
three  or  six  months ;  but  this  he  knew,  that  the 
longer  the  duration,  the  greater  our  difficulty  'would 
be;  and  he  must  be  a  sanguine  man  indeed,  if  he 
thought  the  country  would  not  be  ruined  in  its  cre- 
dit, if  this  bill  continued  for  six  or  eight  months. — 
There  were  some  persons  who  confessed  that  this 
evil  could  not  be  removed  during  the  war  :  he 
agreed  with  them.;  but  he  doubted  whether  it  could 
be  removed  EVEN  IN  PEACE,  unless  that  desira- 
ble event  should  take  place  very  soon.  Every  hour 
that  it  was  delayed,  diminished  our  chance  of  re- 
moving the  calamity.  If  we  had  not  peace  in  the 


218  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

spring  of  1797,  what  should  we  say  in  the  autumn  ? 
This  was  a  question  which  did  not  depend  on  the 
taking  of  a  town  or  a  fortress.  An  enumeration  of 
many  successes  in  that  respect  would  be  of  no  avail. 
This  was  a  time  in  which  we  should  not  conceal 
any  thing  from  the  public.  A  new  loan  of  several 
millions  was  speedily  wanted,  which  certainly  would 
not  tend  to  improve  the  situation  of  paper  credit.  He 
could  not  bring  himself  to  state  the  circumstances 
of  this  country  without  the  most  painful  anxiety. 
The  House  ought  to  consider  that  this  country  was 
now  on  the  brink  of  a  dreadful  precipice,  and  that 
one  false  step  might  throw  it  into  a  gulf,  out  of 
^hich  it  never  could  rise"  In  the  same  debate,  in 
answer  to  a  remark  of  Mr.  PITT,  "  that  an  increase 
of  Bank  notes  would  hasten  the  period  of  cash 
payments"  Mr.  Fox  said,  that  "  to  say  that  paper 
differed  from  the  nature  of  every  thing  else,  and 
that  it  was  valuable  in  proportion  as  it  was  plen- 
tiful, and  not  as  it  was  rare ;  and  that  the  abun- 
dance of  paper  would  incline  people  not  to  hoard 
guineas,  but  would  induce  people  to  carry  them  to 
the  Bank,  were  propositions  so  inconsistent  with 
sound  reasoning,  that  he  was  ashamed  of  calling  up 
principles  so  merely  elementary,  and  which  were  as 
clear  as  the  simplest  propositions  of  mathematics." 
In  the  same  debate,  Mr.  SHERIDAN  said,  that  "  There 
would  be  no  end  to  the  bill,  should  it  be  carried 
into  effect.  He  would  repeat,  therefore,  what  he 
had  said  before,  that  it  would  be  better  to  suspend 
the  proceeding  altogether,  than  to  hazard  the  evils 
which  its  enactment,  without  the  prospect  of  a  li-  v 
mitation,  would  produce."  In  the  same  debate,  Sir 
WILLIAM  PULTENEY  said :  "  Does  any  man,  in  his 
senses,  imagine,  that  if  this  stoppage  of  payment  in 
specie  is  to  be  of  long  duration,  that  the  merchant 
will  not  advance  the  price  of  his  foreign  articles  ? — 
This  appears  to  me  to  be  a  great  evil ;  and  I  have 
no  idea  of  assenting  to  any  bill  of  this  kind,  unless 
the  duration  be  fixed,  and  irrevocably  limited  to  a 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  249 

short  period."  In  the  debate  of  the  24th  of  March, 
the  same  gentleman,  Sir  WILLIAM  PULTENEY,  said, 
that  "  he  was  of  opinion  that  the  longer  the  period 
was,  the  heavier  would  our  difficulties  grow.  It  was 
useless  to  say,  that  cash  might  Jlow  back  from  the 
country  and  from  abroad ;  lor,  while  we  were 
waiting  for  that  reflux  of  specie,  our  destruction 
must  ensue ;  it  was  impossible  to  restore  the  Bank 
by  the  balance  of  trade  to  which  the  right  honour- 
able gentleman,  Mr.  PITT,  alluded.  The  theory  was 
false,  and  nothing  solid  could  be  expected  from  it. 
Three  weeks  had  already  been  given  to  the  Bank, 
and  he  was  willing  to  grant  it  one  month  more  ;  if, 
then,  it  could  not  pay,  we  must  look  for  some  other 
remedy  :  for  that  now  proposed  would  be  found  of 
no  avail.  We  should  be  only  compelled  to  prolong 
the  restriction  from  one  period  to  another,  till  our 
paper  met  the  fate  of  the  French  assignats" 

Such,  Gentlemen,  were  the  opinions  expressed, 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject,  when  the  cash-stop- 
ping bill  was  first  before  the  House  of  Commons. 
You  see,  then,  that,  while  Mr.  PITT  and  his  adhe- 
rents were  full  of  confidence  of  the  Bank  being  able 
to  return  to  its  payments  in  cash ;  while  they  saw 
no  danger  at  all  from  this  measure  ;  while  they 
thought  that  the  invitation  contained  in  the  Act  for 
people  to  bring  money  into  the  Bank  Shop  would 
again  fill  the  Shop  with  real  treasure  ;  while  they, 
and  especially  Mr.  WILBERFORCE,  described  the  Stop- 
page of  cash-payments  rather  as  a  sign  of  prospe- 
rity and  riches  than  the  contrary  ;  while  they  did 
not,  as  Mr.  HUSKISSON  says,  dream  of  the  Act  being 
continued  for  a  length  of  time  ;  while  their  opi- 
nions, or,  at  least,  their  declarations,  were  of  this 
sort,  the  declarations  on  the  other  side  of  the  House, 
the  declarations  of  those  whom  this  "  most  think- 
ing" nation  would  not  believe,  the  declarations  of 
those  whom  this  "  most  thinking"  nation  were  per- 
suaded to  look  upon  as  its  enemies  and  as  the  friends 
of  France,  were  just  the  contrary.  Mr.  Fox  and 


250  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

his  party  not  only  foresaw,  but  they  foretold,  what 
has  since  come  to  pass.  They  said,  that,  if  the  Act 
was  once  passed,  it  must  go  on ;  and  they  gave  rea- 
sons for  their  opinion,  reasons  that  were  not  attempt- 
ed to  be  overset  by  other  reasons,  and  that  were  op- 
posed by  nothing  but  abuse  or  foul  insinuation. 

Having,  now,  as  far  as  relates  to  this  point,  done 
justice  to  the  parties  who  took  a  part  in  the  debates 
upon  the  occasion  referred  to;  having  shown  that 
Mr.  HUSKISSON  has  not  fairly  represented  the  matter ; 
having  shown  that  Mr.  PITT  and  his  adherents  either 
meant  to  deceive  the  nation  as  to  the  ability  and 
willingness  of  the  Bank  to  return  to  payments  in 
cash,  or  were  themselves  ignorant  of  the  natural 
consequences  of  the  measure,  and  that  they  had  ei- 
ther less  sincerity  or  less  knowledge,  than  their  op- 
ponents; having  placed  this  important  part  of  the 
subject  beyond  the  power  of  future  misrepresenta- 
tion, we  will  now  trace  this  famous  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment through  its  several  renewals,  from  its  first  pass- 
ing to  the  present  day.  In  the  whole,  there  have  been 
Six  Acts  passed  ;  the  original  Act,  of  which  the  seve- 
ral clauses  are  mentioned  in  Letter  XVI.  p.  216,  and 
Five  Acts  of  Renewal.  There  are,  in  some  of  these 
Jive,  trifling  deviations  from  the  original  Act;  but,  these 
are  very  unimportant.  The  great  provisions  about 
stopping  cash-payments,  about  protecting  the  Bank 
Company  against  the  demands  of  their  creditors,  and 
about  the  protection  from  arrests  in  individual  cases, 
are  all  preserved,  are  now  in  full  force,  and,  therefore, 
the  alterations  are  of  no  material  consequence. 

We  have  seen  the  title  and  preamble  of  the  Act 
before,  at  page  216,  and  it  will  be  best,  before  I  offer 
you  any  observations  upon  the  reasons,  which  at 
the  different  renewals,  were  stated  in  justification 
of  the  measure,  to  furnish  you  with  the  dates  of 
the  six  Acts,  that  you  may,  if  your  affairs  should 
require  it,  and  opportunity  enable  you  to  do  it,  refer 
to  these  Acts  yourselves. 

THE  FIRST  was  passed  in  the  37th  year  of  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  251 

reign  of  George  III.,  and  is,  of  the  Statutes  of  that 
year,  Chapter  45.  The  date,  according  to  the  com- 
mon way  of  dating,  is  1797,  and  on  the  23d  of  May. 
To  continue  in  force  to  the  24th  of  June,  1797 ;  that 
is  to  say,  for  only  Jifty -two  days. 

THE  SECOND:  37th  year  George  III.  Chapter  91. 
That  is,  in  1797 ;  and  the  day  when  the  Act  passed 
was  the  22d  of  June ;  to  continue  in  force  'till  one 
month  after  the  commencement  of  the  then  next 
Session  of  Parliament !  Mark  this.  See  what  a  leap 
was  taken.  But  you  will  see  a  greater  presently. 

THE  THIRD:  38th  year  George  III.  Chapter  1. 
That  is,  1797  ;  and  the  day  when  the  Act  was  passed 
was  the  30th  of  November;  to  continue  in  force,  Hill 
one  month  after  the  conclusion  of  the  then  war  by 
a  definitive  treaty  of  peace  !  Bravo !  See  how  it 
gains  strength  as  it  goes.  Give  them  an  "inch^ 
and  they'll  take  an  ell"  says  the  old  proverb.  But 
we  have  not  yet  seen  the  boldest  leap.  This  Act, 
mind,  was  to  protect  the  Bank  Hill  the  end  of  the  war; 
and  the  reasons  for  that  we  shall  see  by-and-by. 

THE  FOURTH  {Peace  was  now  come,  observe:) — 
42nd  year  George  III.  Chapter  42.  That  is,  1802; 
and  the  Act  was  passed  on  the  30th  of  April ;  to 
continue  in  force  (though  peace  was  made)  till  the 
1st  of  March,  1803.  We  shall,  by-and-by,  see  the 
reasons  that  were  given  for  this. — These  reasons 
are  the  interesting  matter. 

THE  FIFTH  (Peace  still  continuing:}  43d  year 
George  III.  Chapter  18.  That  is,  1803 ;  and  the 
Act  was  passed  on  the  28th  of  February ;  to  continue 
in  force  till  six  weeks  after  the  commencement  of 
the  then  next  session  of  Parliament.  This  was 
the  second  renewal  after  the  end  of  the  war.  The 
second  renewal  during  peace. 

THE  SIXTH  (War  was  now  begun  again:)  44th 

year  George  III.  Chapter :  That  is,  1803 ;  and 

the  Act  was  passed  on  the  15ih  of  December;  to 
continue  in  force  till  six  MONTHS  after  a  conclu- 
sion of  a  definitive  treaty  of  peace  ! 


252  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

This  last,  gentlemen,  is  the  Act  which  is  now  m 
force.  This  is  the  Act,  which  now  protects  the 
Bank  Company  against  the  demands  of  the  holders 
of  their  promissory  notes.  This  is  the  Act,  which 
the  BULLION  COMMITTEE  recommended  to  be  repeal- 
ed in  such  a  way  that  the  Bank  Company  shall  be 
compelled  to  pay  again  in  cash  in  two  years  from 
this  time.  You  will  now  be  so  good  as  to  recall  to 
your  minds,  that  the  main  question  for  us  to  deter- 
mine is,  whether,  if  such  a  law  were  passed,  it  is 
likely  that  it  could  be  executed : — in  other  words ; 
whether  it  be  likely  that  the  Bank  Company  will 
ever  again  be  able  to  pay  their  noles  in  money. — 
This  is  the  main  question  for  our  determination, 
because  upon  that  question  hangs  the  whole  paper 
system ;  and,  in  order  the  better  to  enable  ourselves 
to  determine  that  question,  and,  also,  to  complete 
the  history  of  the  Bank  Company  and  the  Bank, 
Stoppage,  or  Restriction,  as  they  call  it,  we  must 
now  take  a  view  of  the  REASONS,  which,  at  the 
several  renewals  of  the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction  Act, 
were  urged  in  justification  of  the  measure. 

The  FIRST  Act  was,  as  we  have  seen,  proposed  to 
the  Parliament  by  the  Minister,  and  defended  by  him 
and  his  adherents,  upon  the  ground  of  necessity. 
The  drain  of  cash  was  said  to  have  been  sudden, 
and  unusual,  arising  from  false  alarms  of  inva- 
sion. The  emergence  was  said  to  be  temporary. 
The  stoppage  was  acknowledged  to  be  a  great  evil; 
but  it  was  maintained,  that  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary, as  the  only  means  of  avoiding  a  greater  evil. 
It  was,  particularly  by  the  then  Attorney-General, 
(now  Lord  Eldon,)  and  by  the  then  Solicitor-Gene- 
ral, (now  Lord  Redesdale,)  urged,  that  the  measure 
was  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  public  creditor,  or 
Stock-holder;  because,  if  the  run  upon  the  Bank 
had  not  been  checked  by  force  of  law,  the  Bank 
would  have  been  totally  ruined,  and,  of  course,  that 
the  Stock-holder  would  have  lost  his  all. 

But,  (and  I  beg  you  to  mark  it  well,)  wl\en  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  253 

SECOND  Act  came  under  discussion,  in  June,  1797, 
the  Minister,  and  his  adherents,  began  to  hold  a  dif- 
ferent sort  of  language,  and  to  speak  of  the  Act,  not 
as  the  less  of  two  evils,  but  rather  as  a  measure 
adopted  from  choice,  and  not  from  necessity.  This 
Act,  which  was  thejirst  act  of  renewal,  had  for  its 
forerunner,  a  correspondence  between  the  Minister 
and  the  Bank  Directors.  His  letter  to  them  was 
dated  on  the  12th  of  June,  and  their  answer  on  the 
13th.  These  letters  having  been  prepared,  he,  the 
minister  himself,  moved,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  the  15th  of  June,  that  the  said  letters  should  be 
laid  before  the  House,  which  was  done.  And,  what 
do  you  think,  gentlemen,  that  these  letters  contained  ? 
Why,  the  minister's  letter  told  the  Bank  Directors, 
that  he  did  not  think  that  it  was  expedient,  that 
they  should  begin  again  to  pay  in  cash,  at  the  time 
specified  in  the  first  Act  of  Parliament ;  and  they, 
very  submissively,  acquiesced  in  the  minister's 
opinion  !  Now,  pray  do  not  laugh,  gentlemen  ; 
for,  you  will  find,  in  the  end,  it  is  no  laughing 
matter. 

These  two  Letters,  and  nothing  in  the  world  be- 
sides, were  made  the  ground  of  a  legislative  pro- 
ceeding ;  made  the  ground,  and  the  sole  ground,  for 
continuing,  for  five  months  longer,  an  Act  of  Par- 
liament, which  protected  the  Bank  Company  against 
the  demands  of  their  numerous  creditors,  the  holders 
of  their  notes.  In  the  course  of  his  speech,  the  Mi- 
nister, the  "  heaven-born  Minister,"  said,  "  that  he 
had  the  satisfaction  to  say,  that  there  was,  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Bank,  with  regard  to  the  means  of 
payment  in  cash,  an  improvement  that  was  highly 
consoling,  and  that  the  apprehension  of  their  not 
recovering  their  ability  to  pay  in  the  accustomed 
manner,  had  been  greatly  exaggerated,  when  the 
subject  first  came  before  the  House."  He  said,  in 
another  part  of  his  speech,  that  ahe  was  still  anxious 
to  come  to  the  termination  of  the  restriction;  and, 
although  that  could  not  be  on  the  day  appointed,  yet 
22 


254  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

it  was  a  satisfaction  to  the  public  to  find,  that  the 
inconvenience  of  the  measure  was  much  less  than 
had  been  foretold,  and  that,  indeed,  the  consequence 
of  the  measure  had  been  the  reverse  of  what  had 
been  predicted  by  its  opponents." 

Without  more  ado,  the  bill  was  brought  m,  and 
was  passed,  as  we  have  seen,  in  seven  days  after- 
wards, without  any  further  debate  about  the  matter. 
Four  fifths  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  still  at 
the  back  of  the  Minister ;  he  appears  to  have  lost 
not  a  single  vote  in  consequence  of  the  state  to 
which  it  was  now  manifest  he  had  brought  the  af- 
fairs of  the  nation ;  there  were  still  the  same  majo- 
rities for  him  in  the  House,  and  there  was  still  the 
same  shouting  for  him  at  Lloyd's ;  the  majority  of 
the  nation,  partly  from  folly,  partly  from  fear,  partly 
from  the  influence  of  the  paper  system,  were  still  as 
loud  in  his  praises  as  ever,  and  Mr.  Fox.  apparently 
wearied  with  exertions,  which  afforded  no  hope  of 
success,  left  the  people  to  feel  the  effects  of  their  in- 
fatuation. 

But,  when  the  THIRD  Act  came  to  be  passed, 
in  November,  1797,  a  little  more  preparation  was  ne- 
cessary ;  and  it  was  also  necessary  to  find  out  new 
reasons,  a  quite  new  doctrine,  in  justification  of  it; 
or.  to  acknowledge,  at  once,  that  the  Bank  was  una- 
ble to  pay.  The  refusal  to  pay  their  notes  in  cash, 
had  now  lasted  for  nine  months  ;  the  alarm  of  in- 
vasion was  over;  and  it  appeared  difficult  to  con- 
ceive any  reason  whatever  for  the  continuation  of 
the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction  Act,  other  than  that  of 
the  inability  of  the  Bank  Company  to  pay  their 
notes  in  money.  Other  reasons  were,  however, 
found  out;  but,  by  way  of  preparation,  another  SE- 
CRET COMMITTEE  was  now  appointed  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  which  Committee  were,  as  we 
shall  see,  the  vehicle  through  which  the  new  doc- 
trines first  made  their  way  into  that  House. 

This  Committee,  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  CHARLES 
BRAGGE,  (now  Bragge  Bathurst,  and  Member  foi 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  255 

Bristol,)  made  their  Report  to  the  House  on  the  17th 
of  November,  1797  ;  and,  I  will  venture  to  say,  that 
a  more  curious  document  never  was  produced  in  the 
world.  Every  syllable  of  it  is  worthy  of  your  at- 
tention; and  I  beg  of  you  to  go  carefully  through  it 
before  you  proceed  any  further.  The  Report  was, 
in  part,  grounded  upon  a  copy  of  a  Resolution  of 
the  Bank  Directors,  which  had  been  passed  some 
time  before,  and  which  was  laid  before  this  Com- 
mittee of  Secrecy.  I  shall  insert  this  Resolution 
first ;  and  I  must  again  beseech  you  to  read  every 
word  of  both  documents  with  attention;  for,  you 
may  be  well  assured,  that  the  whole  world  never 
saw  such  documents  before.* 

*  Resolution  of  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  Bank. 
At  a  Court  of  Directors,  at  the  Bank,  on  Thursday  the  26th 
October,  1797. 

RESOLVED. — That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Court,  That  the 
Governor  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England  are  enabled 
to  issue  specie,  in  any  manner  that  may  be  deemed  necessary 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  public  ;  and  the  Court  have  no 
hesitation  to  declare,  that  the  affairs  of  the  Bank  are  in  such 
a  state,  that  it  can  with  safety  resume  its  accustomed  functions^ 
if  the  political  circumstances  of  the  country  do  not  render 
it  inexpedient :  but  the  Directors  deeming  it  foreign  to  their 
province  to  judge  of  these  points,  wish  to  submit  to  the  wis- 
dom of  Parliament,  whether  as  it  has  been  ONCE  JUDGED 
PROPER  TO  LAY  A  RESTRICTION  on  the  payments  of 
the  Bank  in  cash,  it  may,  or  may  not,  be  prudent  to  continue 
the  same. 

The  Committee  of  Secrecy,  appointed  to  inquire  whether  it 
may  be  expedient  further  to  continue  the  Restriction,  con- 
tained in  two  Acts,  made  in  the  last  Session  of  Parlia- 
ment, respecting  payments  in  Cash  by  the  Bank  ;  have  in- 
quired accordingly,  and  agreed  upon  the  following  Report ; 
viz. 

Your  Committee  have,  in  the  first  place,  examined  the  total 
amount  of  out-standing  demands  on  the  Bank  of  England, 
and  of  the  funds  for  discharging  the  same ;  and  find,  from 
the  examination  of  the  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  of 
the  Bank,  and  the  documents  produced  by  them,  that  the  to- 
tal amount  of  out-standing  demands  on  the  Bank  was,  on 
the  llth  day  of  this  instant  November,  17,578,910/. ;  and  that 
the  total  amount  of  the  funds  for  discharging  the  same  (with- 
out including  the  permanent  debt  due  from  Government,  of 
n.686,800/.,  which  bears  an  interest  of  three  per  cent)  was, 


256  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

This  Report,  this  matchless,  this  immortal  Re 
port,  having  been  laid  before  the  House,  having 
been  submitted  "  to  the  Wisdom  of  Parliament,"  the 

on  the  same  day,  21,418,460Z, ;  leaving  a  balance  of  surplus  in 
favour  of  the  Bank,  (exclusive  of  the  above-mentioned  debt 
from  Government,)  of  3,839,550Z. 

Your  Committee  next  proceeded  to  examine  the  principal 
articles  of  which  the  above  mentioned  sum  of  21,418,4GO/.t 
being  the  credit  side  of  account,  is  made  up,  with  a  view  of 
ascertaining  how  far  the  Bank  might  be  enabled  to  resume 
its  accustomed  payments  in  cash,  in  case  the  restriction  at 
present  subsisting  should  be  removed  :  and  your  Committee 
find,  that  the  advances  to  Government  have,  on  the  one 
hand,  been  so  much  reduced,  since  the  25th  of  February  last, 
as  to  amount,  on  the  said  llth  day  of  this  instant  November, 
to  no  more  than  the  sum  of  4,258, 140Z.  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  cash  and  bullion  in  the  Bank  have  increased  to  an 
amount  more  than  Jive  times  the  value  of  that  at  which  they 
stood  on  the  same  25th  of  February  last,  and  much  above  that 
at  which  they  have  stood  at  any  time  since  the  beginning  of 

September,  1795. Your  Committee  farther  find,  that  the 

course  of  exchange  with  Hamburgh  is,  at  present,  unusually 
favourable  to  this  country,  and  that,  from  the  situation  of  our 
trade,  there  is  good  reason  to  imagine  it  will  so  continue,  un- 
less political  circumstances  should  occur  to  affect  it. — Your 
Committee  next  proceeded  to  examine  the  Governor  and  De- 
puty Governor  of  the  Bank  ,as  to  their  opinion  of  the  inconve- 
nience which  may  have  arisen  from  the  restriction  imposed  on 
the  Bank  from  making  payment  in  cash,  and  of  the  expediency 
of  continuing  such  restriction;  and  your  Committee  find,  that 
they  are  not  aware  of  any  such  inconvenience,  and  that  they 
are  supported  in  that  idea,  by  knowing  that  the  bankers  and 
traders  of  London  who  had  a  right  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  to 
demand  three-fourths  of  any  deposit  in  cash  which  they  had 
made  in  the  Bank,  of  500Z.  or  upwards,  have  only  claimed 
about  one  sixteenth  :  and  your  Committee  find,  that  the 
Court  of  Directors  of  the  Bank  did,  on  the  26th  of  October, 
1797,  come  to  a  resolution,  a  copy  of  which  is  subjoined  to 
this  Report. — Your  Committee  having  further  examined  the 
Governor  and  Deputy  Governor,  as  to  what  may  be  meant  by 
the  political  circumstances  mentioned  in  that  resolution, 
find,  that  they  understand  by  them,  the  state  of  hostility  in 
which  the  nation  is  still  involved,  and  particularly  such 
apprehensions  as  may  be  entertained  of  invasion,  either  in 
Ireland  or  this  country,  together  with  the  possibility  there 
may  be  of  advances  being  to  be  made  from  this  country 
to  Ireland  :  and  that  from  those  circumstances  so  explained^ 
and  from  the  nature  of  the  war,  and  the  avowed  purpose  of 
ike  enemy  to  attack  this  coantry  by  means  of  its  public  credit, 
and  to  distress  it  in  its  financial  operations^  they  are  led  to 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  257 

{c  heaven-born  Minister"  rose  to  move,  at  once,  with- 
out any  time  for  printing  the  Report,  to  bring  in  a 
bill  to  extend  the  duration  of  the  Act  of  Stoppage, 
or  Restriction,  as  it  is  called.  He  said,  that  he 
would,  however,  move  for  the  printing  of  the  Re- 
port, "  in  order  that  all  the  Members  might  have 
the  satisfaction  of  informing  themselves,  in  detail, 
of  statements  so  very  pleasing  and  important;  those 
gentlemen,  he  said,  who  had  now  heard  the  report 
read,  would  think  with  him,  that  after  the  full  exa- 
mination the  subject  had  undergone  in  the  Com- 
mittee ;  after  the  clear  and  decided  opinion  that 
Committee  had  pronounced  upon  it ;  and  after  the 
distinct  statement  not  only  of  them  but  of  the  Bank 
Directors  ;  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  detain  the 
business  merely  on  account  of  the  printing  ;  and  that 
it  would  be  proper  to  proceed  without  delay  to  the 
object  of  that  Report ;  and  move  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  for  that  purpose."  He  further  said,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  continue  the  restriction  during  the. 
war  to  defeat  the  object  of  the  enemy,  which  was 
to  destroy  our  credit  ;  that  the  further  continuation 
of  the  restriction  could  not  reasonably  produce  any 
alarm  or  apprehension,  since  they  had  now  indis- 
putable evidence  before  them,  that,  so  far  from  the 
gloomy  predictions  of  the  opponents  of  the  measure 
having  been  verified,  the  national  credit  had  rapidly 

think  that  it  will  be  expedient  to  continue  the  restriction  now 
subsisting,  with  the  reserve  for  partial  issues  of  cash,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  Bank,  of  the  nature  of  that  contained  in  the 
present  Acts ;  and  that  it  may  be  so  continued,  without  inju- 
ry to  the  Credit  of  the  Bank,  with  an  advantage  to  the  na- 
tion.— Your  Committeet  therefore,  having  taken  into  con- 
sideration, the  general  situation  of  the  country,  are  of  opinion, 
that  notwithstanding  the  affairs  of  the  Bank,  both  with 
respect  to  the  general  balance  of  its  accounts,  and  its  capaci- 
ty of  making  payments  in  specie,  are  in  such  a  state  that  it 
might  with  safety  resume  its  accustomed  functions,  UNDER 
A  DIFFERENT  STATE  OF  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS,  yet,  that 
it  will  be  expedient  to  continue  the  restriction  now  subsisting 
on  such  payments,  for  such  time,  and  under  such  limitatious, 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  Parliament  may  seem  fit. 


258  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

risen  to  the  high  condition  of  prosperity  which  had 
just  been  exhibited.  At  the  end  of  this  harangue, 
he  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  continuing 
the  Stoppage  of  cash-payments,  at  the  Bank,  till  a 
month  after  the  conclusion  of  a  definitive  treaty  of 
peace  ;  which,  by  the  Representatives  of  "  the  most 
thinking  people  in  the  world,"  was  agreed  to  without 
a  single  dissenting  voice  ! 

When,  however,  the  subject  came  to  be  discussed 
again  on  the  22d  of  November,  the  thing  was  not 
suffered  to  pass  off  in  silence.  Mr.  HOBHOUSE  ob- 
served upon  the  new  doctrine  which  was  now  brought 
forward  in  defence  of  the  measure :  "  He  reminded 
the  House,  that  he  had  said  on  a  former  occasion, 
that  this  would  be  the  case ;  and  now  the  Minister 
was  making  good  his  predictions,  alleging  as  a  rea- 
son for  so  doing,  that  the  nature  of  the  contest  in 
which  we  are  engaged  demanded  it,  though  this 
was  no  part  of  the  grounds  for  the  former  restric- 
tion^ and  though  in  comparing  the  war  now  with 
its  nature  at  that  time,  it  did  not  appear  there  was 
any  material  difference.  Why  the  nature  of  the 
war,  then,  made  a  restriction  of  six  months  only  ne- 
cessary, and  its  nature  now  made  a  restriction  during 
the  contest  necessary,  he  could  not  discover ;  to  him 
it  appeared  absurd  and  irreconcilable  to  common 
sense  and  sound  policy."  What  answer  was  given 
to  this  by  the  Minister  ?  What  answer  could  he 
give  ?  He  had,  in  fact,  nothing  to  say.  He  repeated  all 
the  former  assertions  about  the  riches  of  the  Bank, 
though  those  assertions  evidently  made  against  him ; 
and,  as  to  the  main  argument,  what  did  he  do,  but 
rely  solely  upon  the  opinion  of  the  Secret  Committee, 
a  Committee,  who  had,  in  fact,  been  chosen  by  his 
own  adherents.  He  said :  u  As  to  the  plan  of  con- 
tinuing the  restriction  for  the  whole  term  of  the  war, 
the  reasons  for  it  being  stated  distinctly  in  the  Re- 
port of  the  Committee,  it  was  unnecessary  for  him 
to  say  a  word  more  upon  the  subject;  it  would  be 
found  there  distinctly  set  out  that  the  Bank  was  in 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  259 

a  state  which  in  ordinary  times  would  enable  it  to 
resume  its  cash  payments  and  operations  on  the  ac- 
customed scale.  But  that  the  avowal  of  the  enemy 
to  attack  us  through  our  finances,  and  to  ruin  our 
public  credit,  was  the  motive  (he  presumed  a  suffi- 
ciently cogent  motive)  to  make  an  additional  term 
of  restriction  ;  and  when  it  was  remembered  that  no 
injury  nor  even  inconvenience,  had  been  sustained 
by  the  restriction  hitherto,  the  House  could  not  but 
think  it  a  sufficient  encouragement  to  adopt  that  now 
called  for."  In  a  subsequent  stage  of  the  bill,  the 
next  day,  he  said :  "  We  were  contending  with  an 
enemy  whose  object  was  to  attack  the  credit  of  the 
country,  and  to  embarrass  its  financial  operations. 
It  was  necessary  to  meet  these  attacks  in  a  manner 
that  would  defeat  the  object  of  the  enemy.  The 
House  should  take  every  measure  to  ward  off  the 
danger,  and  the  present  was,  in  his  opinion,  the  best 
that  could  possibly  be  adopted."  Mr.  HUSSEY  ha- 
ving pressed  him  closely  upon  this  point,  he  further 
said,  that,  "  It  was  necessary  to  hold  out  to  the  enemy, 
that  the  country  was  prepared  to  meet  all  its  efforts 
of  desperation ;  but  it  did  not  follow  that  the  re- 
striction would  be  continued  during  the  whole  of  the 
war.  While,  however,  it  was  pursued  in  its  present 
shape,  he  certainly  considered  the  restriction  as  ab- 
solutely necessary." 

These  miserable  reasons;  these  most  pitiful  pre- 
tences, Mr.  TIERNEY  exposed,  in  his  speech  of  the 
22d  of  November,  in  a  manner  so  complete,  that  one 
is  shocked  at  the  thought  of  the  House  afterwards 
suffering  the  measure  to  proceed ;  one  cannot  help 
wondering,  that  the  Minister  was  able  to  sit  and 
hear  him ;  and,  it  is  impossible  to  feel  any  compas- 
sion for  the  people  who  still  supported  and  extolled 
him  ;  and  who  richly  merit  all  that  could,  or  can,  be- 
fall them  from  that  cause,  they  having  supported 
him  with  their  eyes  open,  and  against  the  clearly 
and  loudly  expressed  dictates  of  reason  and  truth. 
Mr.  TIERNEY  said :  u  that  the  enemy  would  aim  a 


260  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

blow  at  our  credit  and  finances,  all  would  agree,  for 
all  modern  wars  have  been,  without  exception,  car- 
ried on  upon  that  principle.  Modern  wars  are  made 
upon  resources  rather  than  blood  ;  but  was  this  the 
way  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  succeeding  ? — most 
whimsical  expedient ! — In  order  to  leave  the  enemy 
no  credit  to  attack,  they  destroy  credit  themselves. 
But  at  last,  they  speak  plainly,  at  last,  it  comes  out, 
it  will  distress  the  financial  operations  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and  then  they  deliberately  weigh  and  find  that 
it  will  be  expedient  to  continue  the  restriction  with 
the  reserve  of  partial  issues  of  cash  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Bank,  and  that  it  may  be  so  continued  with 
advantage  to  the  nation,  and  without  injury  to  the 
credit  of  the  Bank.  This  was  the  result  of  the  ex- 
amination of  the  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  of 
the  Bank  of  England.  This  was  their  advice. 
This  precious  plan,  which  first  originated  in  the  dia- 
bolical, but  fertile  mind  of  that  monster  Robes- 
pierre." 

Mr.  TIERNEY,  in  this  speech,  which  was  one  of 
the  best  made  upon  the  occasion,  and  to  which  I  do  not 
pretend  to  do  full  justice,  then  showed  how  clear  it 
was,  that  the  Bank  Company  and  the  Minister  went 
hand  in  hand  through  the  whole  of  the  transaction ; 
that  their  operations  were  intended  to  screen  one 
another  ;  that  the  Bank  Company  called  upon  the 
Minister  for  protection  ;  and  the  Minister  made  that 
the  pretext  for  his  propositions  to  Parliament.  He 
observed,  that  the  principal  reason  for  continuing  to 
protect  the  Bank  from  paying  their  notes,  came  from 
the  Bank  Directors  themselves,  who  even  before 
the  meeting  of  Parliament  had  come  to  a  resolution, 
that  they  were  able  to  pay  if  the  political  circum- 
stances of  the  country  did  not  render  it  inexpe- 
dient, but  that  the  stoppage  of  payments  in  cash 
having  been  ONCE  judged  proper,  they  submitted 
to  the  wisdom  of  Parliament,  whether  it  would  not 
be  proper  to  continue  the  same.  "  Thus,"  said  Mr. 
TIEBNEY,  "  the  measure  of  non-payment  originated 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  261 

with  the  persons  bound  to  pay  ;"  and  who,  from  the 
language  of  the  Act,  the  world  would  believe  were 
restrained  against  their  will  from  paying. 

From  the  Report  of  the  Secret  Committee,  you 
will  have  perceived  that  the  Bank  Company  of 
Traders,  were  the  chief  source  of  the  Committee's 
information;  for  the  Committee  say,  that,  having 
asked  them  what  they  meant  by  those  "political  cir* 
cumstances"  of  the  country,  mentioned  in  their  Re-* 
solution,  the  Bank  people  told  them,  that  they  al- 
luded to  the  war  in  which  the  country  was  engaged  ! 
Upon  this;  aye,  upon  this  ground,  suggested  by  the 
Bank  Company  themselves,  did  the  Committee  re- 
port, that  it  would  not  be  safe  for  that  Company  to 
pay  its  notes  during  the  war ;  and  upon  the  same 
ground  did  the  House  of  Commons  come  to  a  like 
determination. 

Gentlemen,  were  not  these  facts  fresh  in  our  me- 
mories ;  were  they  not  capable  of  proof  by  living 
witnesses  ;  nay,  were  they  not  proved  by  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Act  of  Parliament,  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  would  they,  could  they  be  believed?  could 
they  be  believed  to  have  taken  place  in  any  nation 
upon  earth ;  and,  especially  amongst  a  people  calling 
themselves  "  the  most  thinking  people  in  the  world  ?" 

Thus  have  we  traced  down  this  Act  of  Stoppage, 
or  Restriction,  as  it  is  called,  to  the  end  of  the  last 
war.  We  have  seen  that  its  continuation  was  at 
last  justified  upon  the  ground  of  its  being  dangerous 
for  the  Bank  to  return  to  money  payments  DURING 
THE  WAR.  And  now  we  have  to  see  what  rea- 
sons were  given  for  continuing  the  restriction,  or  re- 
fusal to  pay,  AFTER  THE  WAR  WAS  OVER. 
But  this,  by  no  means  the  least  interesting  part  of 
tjie  subject,  must  be  reserved  for  another  Letter. 
In  the  meanwhile,  I  remain, 

Gentlemen,  your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday,  December  4,  1810. 


262  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 


LETTER  XX. 


"  The  English  are  a  sober,  THINKING  people,  and  are  more  intelligent  and 
more  solid  than  any  people  I  ever  bad  the  fortune  to  see."— Lord  Stor- 
mont's  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords,  1st  Feb.,,  1792. 


The  War  being  now  over,  Mr.  Pitt's  Reasons  ceased  of  course 
—The  Peace  brings  no  Golden  Payments  at  the  Bank— Mr. 
Addington  becomes  Minister— Gives  Notice  of  an  Intention 
to  continue  the  Act  of  1797— Mr.  Robson  calls  for  Papers, 
which  are  refused— He  compares  Bank  Notes  to  Assignats, 
and  is  himself  called  to  Order— Mr.  Addington's  reasons 
for  renewing  the  Act  in  April,  1802— His  Reasons  for  another 
Continuation  of  the  Bill  in  February,  1807— Mr.  Tiernev 
calls  for  Inquiry— The  Act  renewed  again,  in  Dec.  1803,  till 
sixth  Months  after  Peace. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  Letter  XIX.,  page  244,  we  traced  the  Bank 
Stoppage  or  Restriction  Act,  down  to  the  end  of  the 
last  war,  in  the  year  1802.  We  saw  it  introduced 
under  pretence  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  tempo- 
rary purpose  ;  we  saw  it  passed,  at  first,  for  only 
fifty-two  days ;  and  with  every  expectation  held 
forth,  that  it  would  be  repealed  before  the  expira- 
tion even  of  that  time ;  we  then  saw,  that  it  not  only 
lived  for  the  fifty-two  days,  but,  at  the  expiration  of 
that  time,  was  prolonged  for  Jive  months  ;  and,  when 
the  end  of  that  five  months  came,  we  saw  it  pro- 
longed for  the  duration  of  the  war,  upon  the  ground, 
that  the  enemy  had  openly  avowed  his  determina- 
tion to  effect  the  destruction  of  our  public  credit, 
and  that,  therefore,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  upon 
the  defensive.  This  was  the  precise  ground  stated 
by  the  Minister  himself.  The  enemy  had  avowed 
his  determination  to  destroy  our  credit,  and  therefore 
the  Bank  was  to  l)e  protected  from  paying  its  pro- 
missory notes,  agreeably  to  the  conditions  on  wliich 
these  notes  had  been  received  in  payment.  The 
enemy  had  avowed  his  determination  to  blast  the 
credit  of  England,  and.  therefore^  the  Bank  of  Eng- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  263 

land  was  to  stop  payment  with  impunity,  as  long 
as  the  war  should  last. 

Such  were  the  reasons,  such  the  doctrine,  to 
which  was  at  last  driven  the  "  Grand  financier,"  Mr. 
PITT,  who  had  begun  his  career  by  bespeaking  a  co- 
lumn to  his  memory,  on  which  the  words  "  PUBLIC 
CREDIT,"  should  be  inscribed  ;  such  was  now  the  doc- 
trine of  the  "  heaven-born  minister ;"  "  the  Pilot  that 
weathered  the  storm  ;"  "  the  great  statesman  now 
no  more."  He  weathered  the  storm  so  ably,  that,  at 
the  end  of  only  four  years  of  his  war  against  the  Re- 
publicans of  France,  during  which  four  years  he 
had,  perhaps,  forty  times  foretold  that  France  would 
sink  beneath  the  weight  of  bankruptcy,  he  himself 
comes  into  the  same  House  of  Commons  where  his 
promises  to  ruin  France  had  been  so  often  heard, 
and  there  he  calls  upon  the  members  to  protect  the 
Bank  of  England  in  non-payment  of  its  notes ;  he 
calls  upon  them  for  a  law  to  compel  the  Public 
Creditor  to  take  his  dividends  in  a  paper  not  conver- 
tible into  gold ;  and,  his  reason  for  this  is,  that  the 
French,  that  those  same  French,  that  the  bankrupt 
French,  that  the  beggared  French,  threatened  to 
make  war  upon  our  finances  !  Aye,  he,  the*boaster, 
who  had  made  so  many,  so  many  scores,  of  tri- 
umphant comparisons  between  the  situation  of  Eng- 
land and  France ;  who  had  so  many  scores,  I  might 
say  hundreds  of  times,  (for  -he  frequently  did  it  seve- 
ral times  in  one  speech)  represented  England  as  so 
highly  blessed  in  wealth  and  credit,  while  France 
was  sunk  into  the  lowest  abyss  of  poverty,  and  threat- 
ened with  all  the  evils  attendant  upon  a  debased 
paper-money ;  he,  this  very  same  man ;  the  identical 
"  heaven-born-minister ;"  now  asked  for  a  law  to  pro- 
tect the  Bank  against  the  demands  of  the  holders  of 
its  notes,  and  to  compel  the  Public  Creditor  to  re- 
ceive his  dividends  in  that  same  sort  of  notes  or  not 
at  all ;  and,  all  this  he  did,  because  those  same  poor, 
ruined,  beggared,  and  beaten  French,  had  avowed 
their  intention  of  making  war  upon  our  finances. 


264  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

But,  at  any  rate,  this  reason  held  good  only  ditr 
ring  the  war.  The  "  heaven-born  man,"  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  last  Letter,  expressly  stated,  that 
the  measure  was  a  mere  war  measure,  intended  to 
meet  the  hostility  of  the  enemy ;  "  to  meet  his  ef- 
forts of  desperation"  But,  it  did  not  follow,  he 
said,  that  the  non-payment  of  cash  would  continue 
during  the  whole  of  the  war ;  hut  merely  while  the 
enemy  pursued  the  war  in  its  then  "  present  shape" 
So  that,  at  all  events,  it  was  believed,  or,  it  was  in- 
tended to  make  this  "  most  thinking  people  in  the 
world"  believe,  that  the  measure  would  last  only  for 
the  war  at  longest,  and  that  when  peace  returned, 
they  would  once  more  get  guineas  for  their  notes, 
and  that  those  of  them  who  had  dividends  to  receive, 
would  receive  them  in  gold  if  they  chose,  as  they 
formerly  used  to  do ;  and,  this,  was  one  of  the  rea- 
sons why  the  nation  so  anxiously  wished  for 
peace. 

Well,  in  1802,  Peace  came  !  But,  alas  !  it  brought 
no  guineas  in  payments  at  the  Bank.  It  brought 
with  it  no  golden  payments  to  the  Stock  holder,  or 
Public  Creditor^  as  some  people  call  him.  Peace 
brought  no  repeal  of  the  Bank  Stoppage,  or  Restric- 
tion Act.  On  the  contrary,  it  did,  as  we  have  seen 
at  page  251,  bring  an  extension  of  the  duration  of 
that  Act  from  the  30th  of  April,  1802,  to  the  first  of 
March,  1803.  And  thus  it  was  that  the  promise  was 
kept.  Thus  it  was  that  "  the  most  thinking  people 
in  the  world"  saw  their  "heaven-born  Minister's" 
doctrines  verified. 

But,  what  was  now  the  pretence  for  continuing 
this  Act  ?  The  war  was  over.  The  shoutings  and 
the  bon-firings  and  the  bell-ringings  for  peace  had 
taken  place.  Mr.  ADDINGTON,  the  prime  minister, 
and  Lord  HAWKESBURY,  the  negotiator,  had  been 
praised  in  all  manner  of  ways  for  the  "  blessings  of 
peace."  What,  then,  could  be  the  pretence  for 
continuing  the  Stoppage  Act  ?  You  shall  hear. 
Gentlemen;  for  it  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  265 

reason  except  in  the  words  of  the  Minister  himself 
and  of  those  who  supported  him. 

You  must  remember,  Gentlemen,  that  just  before 
the  peace  was  begun  to  be  negotiated,  the  "  hea- 
ven bonr'  and  some  others  went  out  of  office,  and 
that  Mr.  HENRY  ADDINGTON,  now  LORD  VISCOUNT 
SIDMOUTH,  succeeded  him,  as  prime  minister.  To 
his  lot,  therefore,  it  fell  to  propose  the  continuation 
of  the  Stoppage  Act,  in  peace  ;  but,  you  should 
bear  my  mind,  that  this  was,  in  fact,  no  change 
of  ministry  ;  it  was  merely  a  change  of  a  very  few 
of  the  men  in  power.  All  those  who  had  voted  for 
PITT,  continued  to  vote  for  his  successor,  as  did 
also  Mr.  PITT  himself.  So  that  the  continuation  of 
the  Stoppage  Act  is  not  to  be  ascribed,  in  anywise 
to  this  change  of  men,  the  people  still  in  power 
being  the  same  people  who  supported  all  the  mea- 
sures of  the  minister,  PITT,  and  who,  indeed,  brought 
him  back  into  power  again  in  the  year  1804. 

It  was  on  the  9th  of  April,  1802,  that  the  continua- 
tion was  proposed  by  Mr.  ADDINGTON  ;  but  notice  of 
his  intention  having  been  before  given,  Mr.  ROBSON, 
on  the  2nd  of  April,  moved  for  certain  papers,  show- 
ing the  nature  of  the  affairs  of  the  Bank,  which  was 
opposed  by  the  Minister,  ADDINGTON,  who,  without 
more  ado,  moved  the  previous  question  upon  it. 
Whereupon  Mr.  ROBSON  said,  that  this  was  using 
him,  and  those  who  thought  with  him,  very  ill. 
Notice  had  been  given,  he  said,  by  the  minister,  of 
his  intention  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  continue  the  Act, 
which  protected  the  Bank  from  paying  in  gold  and 
silver,  and,  he  wished  to  know  how  the  affairs  of  the 
Bank  stood,  that  he  might  be  able  to  judge  whether 
he  ought  to  consent  to  such  a  measure  or  not.  "  He 
maintained  that  all  Europe  was  contemplating  the 
payments  of  specie  by  the  Bank,  as  the  criterion  of 
the  credit  of  the  Country.  If  the  Bank  continued  to 
issue  paper,  country  banks  would  do  the  same  with- 
out control ;  they  would  issue  their  notes  without 
mercy.  It  was,  in  his  opinion,  THE  COMMENCE- 
23 


266  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

MENT  OF  A  COURSE  OF  ASSIGNATS. 
(  Order  !  order  I  and  question  I  was  called  from 
every  part  of  the  House") 

The  question  being  put,  it  was  carried  against 
Mr.  ROBSON,  without  a  division.  He  was  not  al- 
lowed to  have  the  papers  he  wanted.  It  was  unne- 
cessary, he  was  told ;  and,  when  he  ventured  to  com- 
pare bank  notes  to  assignats,  he  was  called  to  order. 
He  was  called  to  order  for  speaking  irreverently  of 
those  notes,  which  were  by  law  rendered  not  pay- 
able agreeably  to  promise,  and  which  law  it  was  now 
proposed  to  continue. 

Now  we  come  to  the  Minister  Addington's  rea- 
sons for  continuing  this  Act  after  the  end  of  the 
war ;  and  to  those  reasons  we  must  pay  particular 
attention.  He  prefaced  his  proposition,  as  his  pre- 
decessors always  used  to  do,  by  very  high  language 
about  the  ability  of  the  Bank  to  pay  in  coin.  He 
said,  in  the  debate  of  the  9th  of  April,  "  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  being  convinced,  that  the  measure 
cannot  furnish  a  pretence  to  the  most  timid  man 
in  the  House,  to  suppose  the  Bank  does  not  possess 
within  itself  the  most  ample  means  of  satisfying 
the  full  extent  of  the  demands  which  may  be  made 
upon  it,  by  the  payment  of  its  notes  in  specie." 
In  the  debate  of  the  2 1st  of  April,  he  said,  that"  on  the 
solidity  of  the  Bank,  he  was  entitled  to  say  and  as- 
sume there  was  now  no  question  either  in  that  House 
or  elsewhere.  On  the  DISPOSITION  of  the  Bank 
to  make  payments  in  specie,  he  was  also  entitled  to 
assume,  nay,  he  owed  it  to  the  Bank  to  ASSERT 
they  had  manifested  a  readiness  to  do  so.  It  "  was, 
however,  thought  necessary  to  continue  this  restric- 
tion for  a  while."  Having  said  this,  he  said,  that 
it  was,  of  course,  quite  unnecessary  to  enter  into 
any  inquiry  as  to  the  state  of  the  Bank's  affairs ; 
and,  accordingly,  it  only  remained  for  him  to  state 
the  grounds,  upon  which  he  proposed  the  continua- 
tion of  the  measure.  But,  Gentlemen,  pray  bear  in 
mind,  that  this  Minister  gave  the  country  to  under- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  267 

stand,  that  the  Bank  Company  had,  even  at  that 
time,  u  manifested  a  readiness  to  make  payment 
in  specie"  and  this  was  now  nearly  nine  years  ago. 
Yet,  Mr.  RANDALL  JACKSON  now  bestows  something 
very  much  like  abuse  upon  the  Bullion  Committee, 
because  they  recommended  to  the  House  to  make  the 
Bank  Company  begin  to  pay  in  specie  in  two  years 
from  this  time.  What  should  make  the  Bank  Com- 
pany angry  with  the  Committee,  if  it  was  true,  that 
they  wished  to  pay  in  money,  so  long  as  eight  years 
and  nine  months  ago  ? 

The  grounds  which  the  Minister,  ADDINGTON, 
stated  for  the  continuation,  were  as  follows.  In  the 
debate  of  the  9th  of  April,  he  said;  "  The  grounds 
on  which  I  shall  rest  the  proposition  I  have  to  make 
to  the  House,  are  notorious  ;  and  it  will  be  for  the 
sober  and  dispassionate  reflection  of  the  House,  whe- 
ther the  measure  I  shall  submit  does  not  necessarily 
result  from  facts  and  circumstances  too  well  known 
even  to  require  a  particular  statement  of  them.  It 
cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to  inform  the  House, 
that  the  rate  of  exchange  between  this  country  and 
foreign  parts  is  disadvantageous,  to  ourselves.  .  .  . 
It  cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to  prove,  that  while 
the  rate  of  exchange  is  disadvantageous  to  us,  an 
augmentation  of  the  circulating  cash  would  create 
a  trade  highly  injurious  to  the  interest  and  com- 
merce of  this  country.  It  is  well  known,  that  for 
several  months  past  there  has  been  a  trade  carrying 
on  in  purchasing  guineas  with  a  view  to  the  ex- 

portation  of  them In  addition  to  these 

reasons,  the  House  will  reflect  upon  the  inconve- 
nience which  would  unavoidably  result  from  letting 
loose  such  a  proportion  of  the  coin  of  the  country  as 
would  be  circulated  by  taking  off  the  restriction.  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  inconvenience,  that  can  possi- 
bly arise  from  continuing  it.  We  have  had  the  sa- 
tisfaction, arising  from  the  experience  of  three  or 
four  years  of  difficulty.  We  have  had  experience, 
that  during  such  period,  the  credit  of  the  Bank  has 


268  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

undergone  no  diminution  whatever.  Bank  notes 
have  maintained  their  reputation,  and  have  been 
every  where  received  cheerfully  and  readily.  .  .  . 
Some  Gentlemen  are  desirous  that  the  Bank  should 
pay  in  cash  for  notes  of  small  denomination;  but 
till  there  is  a  full  and  abundant  supply  of  cash  by 
opening  the  Bank  entirely,  it  is  extremely  conve- 
nient to  afford  circulation  to  II.  and  21.  notes.  By 
the  payment  of  them  in  specie,  a  general  anxiety 
would  be  introduced  of  obtaining  cash  at  the  Bank. 
Notes  of  1,000/.  and  500Z.  would  be  changed  for 
notes  of  II.  and  21.  in  order  that  they  might  be 
immediately  changed  again  for  cash.  If  a  re- 
straint was  to  be  imposed  with  respect  to  the  num- 
ber of  notes  of  small  denomination,  they  would  be 
driven  out  of  circulation  altogether;  and  there  would 
be  no  small  notes  but  those  issued  by  Bankers." 

There,  Gentlemen,  you  have  now  before  you  the 
reasons  why  this  Act  was  continued  after  the  war. 
The  Minister,  Mr.  PITT,  told  the  nation,  that  it  was 
necessary  during  the  war,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
enemy  from  executing  his  vow  of  destroying  our 
credit ;  and  the  Minister,  Addington,  told  the  nation, 
that  it  was  necessary  after  the  war  was  over,  be- 
cause the  rate  of  exchange  was  against  us,  because 
people  were  exporting  guineas  when  they  could  lay 
hold  of  them,  because  to  repeal  the  Act  would  let 
coin  loose,  because  the  experience  of  years  had 
shown  that  the  stoppage  of  cash  payments  had  done 
no  harm  to  the  credit  of  the  Bank,  whose  notes  were 
every  where  received  cheerfully  and  readily,  and 
finally,  because,  (pray  mark !)  if  a  part  of  the  notes 
were  to  be  paid  in  specie,  that  would  give  rise  to  a 
general  anxiety  to  obtain  cash  at  the  Bank,  and  that 
people  would  change  large  notes  into  small  ones,  in 
order  immediately  to  change  these  latter  for  cash. 

So,  then,  Mr.  ADDINGTON,  the  people  did,  even  in 
your  time,  like  gold  better  than  the  notes  ?  Though 
you  could  not  perceive,  not  you,  any  inconvenience 
from  the  continuation  of  the  Act ;  though  you  had 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  269 

seen  with  satisfaction  the  experience  of  the  years  of 
suspension  ;  though  the  credit  of  the  Bank  had  un- 
dergone TIO  diminution  whatever ;  though  the  Bank 
notes  had  maintained  their  reputation  and  had 
been  every  where  received  cheerfully  and  readily  ; 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  you  object  to  make  the 
small  notes  payable  in  gold,  lest  the  holders  of  them 
should  run  to  the  Bank  and  get  cash  for  them  ;  lest 
this  taste  for  the  sweets  of  gold  should  excite  a  ge- 
neral anxiety  of  obtaining  cash  at  the  Bank  ;  and 
lest  large  notes  should  be  changed  into  small  ones 
for  the  purpose  of  again  changing  these  latter  into 
cash.  But  why  was  this  to  be  feared?  The  Bank 
Directors,  were  surely,  the  best  judges  of  this ;  and, 
you  say,  not  only  that  they  are  able  to  pay  ;  but  they 
have  manifested  a  readiness  to  pay  their  notes  in 
specie.  Now,  this  being  the  case,  what  danger  was 
there  of  a  run  upon  the  Bank ;  and,  if  there  had 
been  a  run,  what  danger  was  there  in  that ;  seeing  that 
there  were  means  amply  sufficient  to  meet  such  run  ? 

Mr.  ROBSON,  whom  we  have  seen  called  to  order 
for  speaking  so  irreverently  of  Bank  notes,  opposed 
the  bill  in  its  subsequent  stages  :  he  pointed  out  the 
advantages  which  the  Bank  derived  from  the  Act ; 
he  foretold  what  the  Bullion  Committee  have  now 
declared  to  have  come  to  pass  ;  in  short,  he  did  all 
that  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  to  prevent  the  conti- 
nuation of  a  measure,  which  a  Committee  of  that 
same  House  of  Commons  have  now  declared  to 
have  produced  such  fearful  consequences ;  and  this 
Mr.  ROBSON  did,  while  Mr.  HUSKISSON,  who  now 
tell  us  that  no  one  foresaw  the  evil,  not  only  suf- 
fered the  measure  to  pass  in  silence,  but  was  one  of 
the  majority  of  the  Minister  by  whom  the  measure 
was  proposed  and  put  in  execution. 

Well,  but,  after  all,  the  Act  was  to  last  only  ten 
months ;  only  till  the  first  of  March,  1803 ;  it  was 
only,  as  the  Minister's  brother,  Mr.  HILEY  ADDING- 
TON,  called  it,  "  a  temporary  provision,  till  the  ef- 
fects of  the  peace  should  have  begun  to  operate." 
23* 


270  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Only  this.  Nothing  more.  Yet  did  they,  when  the 
1st  of  *  March,  1803,  came,  renew  the  Act  again. 
Again  did  they  pass  a  law  to  protect  the  able-and- 
W-illing-to-pay  Bank  against  the  demands  of  the 
note-holders  !  Again  did  they  pass  an  Act,  to  con- 
tinue in  force  till  six  weeks  after  the  commencement 
of  the  then  next  session  of  Parliament,  the  measure 
for  preventing  payments  in  cash,  though  peace  had 
been  made  a  whole  year,  and  though  they  said,  that 
the  Bank  was  able  and  ready  to  pay. 

Let  us  see,  then,  Gentlemen,  what  were  the  rea- 
sons given  now.  "  The  most  thinking  people  in  the 
world,"  were,  as  we  have  seen,  told  the  last  time, 
that  the  Act  of  renewal  was  "  a  temporary  provi- 
sion^ till  the  effects  of  peace  should  have  begun  to 
operate  ;"  and,  as  peace  had  now  lasted  a  whole 
year,  what  reason,  what  pretence,  what  excuse,  what 
apology  was  now  to  be  found  ?  This  is  what  we 
ought  to  keep  our  eye  upon.  We  know  well,  that 
they  renewed  the  Act ;  but,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
judge  of  what  will  be  done  in  future,  we  must  take 
care  to  keep  in  view  the  reasons,  which,  at  the  dif- 
ferent renewals,  were  given  for  the  measure. 

When  he  came  to  propose  the  second  renewal  af- 
ter the  war  was  over,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  Mr. 
ADDINGTON  did  appear  to  perceive  the  light  in  which 
he  stood.  He  did  appear  sensible  of  his  situation  ; 
and,  doubtless,  this  was  amongst  the  things,  for 
which,  as  it  was  asserted  by  a  pamphleteer  soon  af- 
terwards, Mr.  PITT  was  under  obligations  to  his 
successor.  It  was  on  the  7th  of  February,  1803, 
that  he  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  this  bill.  He 
began  by  saying,  "that  it  was  with  the  utmost  reluc- 
tance that  he  submitted  the  proposition  to  the  House, 
but  the  reasons  which  suggested  it  were  too  strong, 
and  the  necessity  too  urgent,  to  be  resisted ;  that 
necessity,  however,  he  hoped  would  soon  disappear; 
and  he  anxiously  and  impatiently  looked  forward 
to  the  day,  which  he  trusted  was  not  far  removed, 
when  the  Bank  would  be  at  liberty  to  resume  its 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  271 

payments  in  specie."  The  grounds  for  proposing 
this  measure  he  stated  to  be,  that  the  course  of  ex- 
change was  still  against  this  country ;  and,  as  the 
House  "  last  year,  considered  that  a  sufficient  argu- 
ment for  the  measure,  he  would  appeal  to  the  can- 
dour and  good  sense  of  the  House  whether  it  would 
be  expedient  to  allow  the  restriction  to  cease."  He 
also  said,  "that  a  sudden  issue  of  cash  from  the 
Bank  would  produce  a  run  upon  the  country  banks, 
and  a  consequent  run  upon  the  Bank  of  England, 
which  might  be  productive  of  most  serious  conse- 
quences." He  further  observed,  "  that  the  exchange 
being  against  us,  had  arisen  from  the  circumstance 
of  scarcity  of  coin,  which  of  late  years  had  caused 
so  much  Bullion  to  be  sent  out  of  the  country,  and 
that  it  was  obvious,  that  we  should  wait  the  opera- 
tions of  a  flourishing  commerce  to  bring  back  some 
proportion  of  this  vast  amount  of  Bullion,  before  we 
attempted  to  permit  the  Barfk  to  issue  specie." 

The  whole  world  never,  in  my  opinion,  heard,  any 
thing  like  this  before.  Were  it  not  upon  record,  in 
a  manner  not  to  be  disputed,  it  would  not.  it  could 
not,  be  believed.  Mr.  TIERNEY  and  Mr.  Fox  spoke 
against  the  motion,  and  particularly  wished  for  an 
inquiry,  previous  to  the  passing  of  such  a  bill.  Mr. 
Tierney  said,  "according  to  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  1797,  the  proportion  of  cash  and  bullion 
in  the  Bank  amounted  tv  ONE  MILLION,  when 
the  Order  of  Council  was  issued  ;  and  some  short 
time  afterwards  this  sum  was  increased  to  SIX 
MILLIONS.  Was  it  not  now  a  fit  object  of  in- 
quiry ;  What  had  become  of  their  six  millions  ? 
If  it  was  forthcoming  to  meet  any  exigency  ;  and  if 
it  was,  why  should  the  Bank  hesitate  to  resume 
their  operations  ?  They  could  not  be  afraid  of  a  run 
upon  them,  for  who  could  now  think  of  any  mate- 
rial advantage  from  hoarding  gold  ?"  Nevertheless, 
the  bill  passed  ;  and  thus  was  the  Bank  protected 
against  demands  upon  them  for  cash,  until  six 
weeks  after  the  commencement  of  the  then  next 


272  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Session  of  Parliament,  which  Session  began  in  No- 
vember, 1803.* 

After  what  we  have  now  seen,  we  can  hardly  ex- 
pect to  hear  of  any  more  reasons.  It  would,  I  think, 
have  been  utterly  impossible  to  invent  any  pretext 
that  Mr.  ADDINGTON  would  have  made  use  of;  but, 
most  fortunately  for  him,  before  Parliament  met,  and, 
of  course,  before  the  Act  expired,  WAR  had  begun 
again.  That  was  quite  enough  ;  and,  without  any 
scruple,  hesitation,  or  ceremony,  the  Minister  brought 
in  a  bill  to  prolong  the  Stoppage,  or  Restriction,  till 
the  war  should  be  over,  and  until  six  months  after 
a  definitive  treaty  of  peace  should  be  concluded. 
He  said  that,  "  though  doubts  had  been  entertained 
as  to  the  propriety  of  the  measure,  during  a  period 
of  peace.  Under  the  impression,  therefore,  that  no 
doubts  existed  on  the  subject,  he  should  take  it  for 
granted,  that  not  objection  would  be  made,  in  the 
present  instance,  to  a  renewal  of  the  measure.  It 
was  satisfactory  to  know  that  the  credit  of  the  Bank 
had  remained  firm  and  unshaken,  during  the  past 
experience  of  the  measure,  and  that  its  sufficiency 
to  make  good  its  engagements,  both  was,  and  is, 
unaffected  by  even  the  slightest  suspicion"] 

This  was  all.  There  was  very  little  more  said 
about  the  matter.  All  the  anxiety  that  he  expressed 
upon  the  former  occasion,  for  the  happy  day  of  cash- 
payments  to  come,  was  now  forgotten ;  or  he  had 
got  an  entirely  new  view  of  the  matter.  There 
were  some  very  interesting  debates  upon  the  subject, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  which  LORD  KING  and 
LORD  GRENVILLE  took  a  part,  and  in  which  they 
showed,  that  they  were  duly  impressed  with  the 
dangerous  consequences  of  continuing  this  Act  in 

*  The  whole  of  this  debate  is  very  important,  and  als,o  a 
subsequent  one  of  the  llth  of  February,  1803.  They  will  be 
found  at  full  length,  and  very  accurately  given,  in  the  POLI- 
TICAL REGISTER,  Vol.  III.  pages  1243  and  1347. 

t  See  Parliamentary  Debates,  Vol.  I.,  page  52.  Where  the 
reader  will  find  Mr.  ADDINGTON'S  grave  ideas  respecting 
hoarding  money. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  273 

force  ;*  but,  what  they  said  was  of  no  avail.  The 
Act  was  passed  ;  it  is,  as  you  well  know.  Gentlemen, 
in  force  to  this  day ;  and  the  proposition  of  the  Bul- 
lion Committee  is,  that  it  shall  be  in  force,  to  its 
present  extent,  at  least,  only  two  years  longer. 

When  we  take  a  review  of  the  reasons  for  the 
passing  of  this  Act,  at  the  several  times  at  which  it 
has  been  passed  ;  when  we  see  how  those  reasons 
have  varied;  when  we  see  how  many  times  the 
expectation  of  a  return  to  cash-payments  has  been 
disappointed  ;  but,  especially  when  we  look  well 
into  the  part  which  the  Bank  Company  themselves 
have  borne  in  these  transactions ;  when  we  look  at 
what  passed  between  the  Minister  and  the  Bank 
Company  previous  to  the  Stoppage  ;  when  we  look 
behind  the  curtain  and  see  the  plan  laid  for  a  pri- 
vate Meeting  of  the  principal  Bankers  to  settle  upon 
the  scheme  for  a  general  meeting ;  when  we  after- 
wards hear  the  Minister,  in  Parliament,  talking  of 
that  Meeting  as  of  a  thing  in  which  he  had  nothing 
to  do,  and  citing  it  as  a  mark  of  the  public  confi- 
dence in  the  Bank  Paper  ;  when  we  take  this  view, 
Gentlemen,  it  is  not,  I  think,  possible,  that  any  of 
us  can  ever  again  be  deceived  by  professions,  pro- 
mises, and  outward  appearance,  as  far,  at  least, 
as  relates  to  the  subject  of  bank  notes. 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  whole  history  of  the 
Stoppage  of  money-payments  at  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, which  history,  though  it  has,  Gentlemen,  taken 
up  a  good  deal  of  time,  will,  I  trust,  be  found  well 
worthy  both  of  our  time  and  our  labour.  Without 
a  knowledge  of  this  history,  it  is  impossible  for  any 
one  to  form  so  correct  an  opinion,  as  to  the  future, 
as  he  will  be  able  to  do  with  this  history,  fairly  im- 
printed on  his  mind.  In  this  history  he  has  before 

*  See  Parliamentary  Debates,  Vol.  I.,  page  152  to  156.  And 
page  304  to  319.  These  two  debates  are  of  great  importance. 
There  is  scarcely  any  thing  to  be  found  in  the  Bullion  Report, 
as  touching  the  main  points,  which  will  not  be  found  to  have 
been  said,  upon  this  occasion,  by  one  or  the  other  of  these 
two  Noblemen. 


274  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

him  the  experience  of  thirteen  years  ;  and,  from 
what  has  been,  he  will  easily  form  his  opinion  as  to 
what,  under  the  operation  of  similar  circumstances, 
is  likely  to  be.  We  have,  by  toiling  through  this 
history,  furnished  ourselves  with  all  the  knowledge 
(of  any  real  use  here)  possessed  by  the  members  of 
the  Bullion  Committee  ;  and,  perhaps,  a  little  more ; 
so  that,  we  shall  now  enter  into  an  examination  of 
their  production  without  any  dread  of  difficulty  in 
the  progress,  or  of  error  in  the  conclusion. 
I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  Wth  December,  1810. 


LETTER  XXI. 


Appointment  of  the  Bullion  Committee— Quantity  of  Bank 
Notes,  compared  with  the  quantity  of  Real  Money— Amount 
of  Bank  of  England  Notes  in  1797,  and  at  this  Time — Num- 
ber of  Country  Banks— Probable  Amount  of  their  Notes- 
Amount  of  Real  Money  in  the  Bank  of  England— Probable 
Amount  of  Real  Money  in  the  Hands  of  the  Country  Bankers. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  whence  we  can 
see  to  the  end  of  our  discussion.  We  have  seen  how 
the  Bank  and  the  Stocks  and  the  bank  notes  arose  ; 
we  have  seen  that  they  all  grew  up  with  the  Nation- 
al Debt  and  the  Taxes ;  we  have  seen,  that,  at  last, 
the  bank  notes  became  so  large  in  amount  that  they 
could  no  longer  be  paid  in  money  at  the  Bank  Shop 
in  Threadneedle  Street;  we  have  seen  the  means 
that  have,  in  the  several  stages,  been  resorted  to,,  in 
order  to  protect  the  Bank  Company  against  the  de- 
mands of  its  creditors,  the  holders  of  its  notes ;  and 
we  have  a  pretty  fair  view  of  the  conduct  of  all  the 
parties  concerned  in  these  transactions.  With  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  275 

EVIL  and  with  the  causes  of  the  Evil  we  are  now 
well  acquainted :  it  only  remains  for  us  to  obtain  as 
good  information  with  respect  to  a  REMEDY. 

To  discover  and  point  out  a  REMEDY  were  the  ob- 
jects of  the  BULLION  COMMITTEE,  of  whom 
I  must  speak  here  a  little  more  fully  than  I  hitherto 
have  done.  This  Committee,  consisting  of  twenty- 
one  members,  was,  as  I  stated  in  Letter  I,  appointed 
by  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the  last  Session 
of  Parliament  "  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  high 
price  of  Gold  Bullion,  and  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  state  of  the  circulating  medium,  &c.  &c. 
and  to  report  the  same  to  the  House."  They  did  so ; 
and  their  Report  was,  by  the  House  of  Commons, 
ordered  to  be  printed  on  the  8th  of  June  last. 

This  Report,  after  showing  that  the  bank  notes 
have  depreciated ;  after  giving  very  clear  proofs  of 
this  fact,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  the  depreciation 
must  continue  to  increase,  unless  put  a  stop  to  by 
some  means  or  other ;  after  this,  the  Report  recom- 
mends, as  a  remedy,  that  the  Bank  Company  shall 
be,  by  law,  compelled  to  pay  their  notes  in  cash,  as 
formerly,  in  two  years  from  this  time  ;  and,  there- 
fore, the  only  great  object  which  remains  for  our  con- 
sideration, is,  whether  this  proposed  remedy  be  prac- 
ticable, or,  whether  it  be  one  that  cannot  be  put  in 
practice. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  correct  conclusion  as  to  this 
great  question,  upon  which,  as  you  must  already 
have  perceived,  the  very  existence,  not  only  of  the 
paper-money  system,  but  also  of  the  Stocks  or  Funds, 
entirely  depends,  we  must,  1st.  take  a  view  of  the 
Quantity  of  paper-money  now  afloat,  compared  with 
the  quantity  of  real  money  and  bullion  in  the  hands 
of  the  Bank  Company  and  in  those  of  the  Country 
Bankers  ;  2d.  we  must  inquire  into  the  rate  of  the 
depreciation  of  the  paper-money  ;  3d.  we  must  in- 
quire into  the  m.eans  which  the  Bank  Company 
would  have  of  obtaining  real  money,  wherewith  to 
redeem,  or  pay  off,  their  notes,  or  any  considerable 


276  PAPER  A&AINST  GOLD. 

part  of  them,  and,  if  we  shall  find,  that  for  them  to 
do  this  would  be  impossible,  our  conclusion  must  be, 
that  the  Bank  Company  cannot  return  to  their  pay- 
ments in  gold  and  silver. 

The  discussion  of  these  matters  I  shall  divide  into 
three  Letters,  in  this  first  of  which  I  shall  take  a 
view  of  the  quantity  of  paper-money  now  afloat, 
compared  with  the  quantity  of  real  money  in  the 
hands  of  the  Bank  Company  and  in  those  of  the 
Country  Bankers. 

The  amount  of  Bank  of  England  notes  in  circu- 
lation before  the  Stoppage  of  payments  in  Gold  and 
Silver,  in  the  year  1797,  was,  as  the  Committee  state, 
between  10  and  11  millions  of  pounds.  But,  as  it 
was  natural  to  expect,  when  the  Bank  Company  was 
protected  by  Act  of  Parliament  against  the  demands 
of  their  creditors,  they  immediately  began  to  increase 
the  quantity  of  their  notes ;  and  let  me  ask,  what  lo- 
ver of  gain  would  not  do  the  same  ?  Where  shall 
we  find  a  private  person  of  that  description,  who 
would  not  increase  the  issues  of  his  promissory  notes 
as  long  as  any  one  would  take  them,  if  there  were 
an  Act  of  Parliament  to  protect  him  against  the  de- 
mands of  the  holders  of  those  promissory  notes  ? 

That  the  consequence,  which  was  naturally  to  be 
expected,  did  take  place,  was  very  well  known,  and 
had  been  clearly  shown  in  the  Register,  and  much 
commented  upon  therein,  long  before,  several  years 
before  the  Bullion  Committee  existed,  the  readers  of 
the  Register  need  not  be  told.  But,  the  Bullion 
Committee  have  verified  the  facts  and  opinions  gi- 
ven, in  this  respect,  in  the  Register ;  they  have  pub- 
lished to  the  world,  through  the  channel  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  that,  what  had  been  before  published 
in  the  Register,  relating  to  this  matter,  was  sound 
and  true. 

They  state,  with  regard  to  the  amount  of  the  Bank 
of  England  notes,  that,  previous  to  the  Stoppage  of 
cash  payments,  in  1797,  and  the  consequent  Act  of 
protection  to  the  Bank,  the  amount  of  these  notes 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  277 

"  was  between  TEN  and  ELEVEN  millions,  hardly 
ever  falling  below  NINE,  and  not  often  exceeding 
ELEVEN  ;"  and  that  in  May,  1810,  the  amount  was 
upwards  of  TWENTY-ONE  millions. 

Gentlemen,  you,  who  have  so  recently  felt  the  ef- 
fects of  a  paper-money,  not  convertible  into  gold  and 
silver,  look  at  this.  You  see,  that  the  amount  of  the 
Bank  of  England  notes  has  been  doubled  in  the  course 
of  thirteen  years,  even  according  to  the  account  given 
in  by  the  Bank  Company  themselves.  It  is  not  my 
intention  to  insinuate,  that  this  account  is  not  a  true 
one  ;  but,  it  is  right  that  we  should  know,  that  this 
statement  has  been  made  by  the  Bullion  Committee, 
from  an  account  made  out  and  presented  to  the  Com- 
mittee  by  the  Bank  Company  themselves ;  and  that, 
therefore,  we  may  rest  perfectly  satisfied,  that  the 
amount  of  the  increase  in  their  notes  has  not  been, 
stated  too  high. 

But,  as  yet,  we  have  seen  only  one  limb,  and  per- 
haps the  least  fruitful,  of  this  paper-money  tree.  The 
other,  the  Country  Banks,  has  been,  according  to  all 
appearance,  much  more  prolific.  It  appears  from  the 
Report,  that  before  the  Stoppage  or  Restriction  law 
was  passed,  there  were  TWO  HUNDRED  AND 
THIRTY  Country  Banks,  and  that,  in  April  last, 
they  had  increased  to  SEVEN  HUNDRED  AND 
TWENTY-ONE  ;  which  is  an  increase  more  than 
threefold  as  to  the  number  of  Banks,  and,  if  we  al- 
low, as  it  is  reasonable  to  do,  that  the  notes  of  the 
old  banks  also  increased  in  quantity,  the  addition  in 
the  whole  amount  must  have  been  prodigious.  No 
wonder  that  gold  and  crown-pieces  disappeared  ;  for 
how  were  they  to  be  expected  to  remain  in  circula- 
tion along  with  such  masses  of  paper  ? 

As  to  the  amount  of  the  Country  Notes  at  either 
of  the  periods  before-mentioned*,  or  at  any  period  at 
all,  therBullion  Committee  say,  that  they  are  unable 
to  ascertain  it  with  any  degree  of  precision  ;  but 
from  certain  returns  obtained  by  them  from  the  stamp 
office,  they  show,  that,  after  making  all  allowances, 
24 


278  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

and  taking  the  matter  m  the  most  favourable  point 
of  view,  there  was,  during  the  year  1809,  in  the  Jive 
and  ten  pound  notes  alone,  an  INCREASE  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  THREE  MILLIONS  ;  and, 
from  the  other  notes  which  appear  to  have  been 
stamped  in  that  year,  there  could  not  be  an  increase 
of  less  than  TWO  MILLIONS  more  in  the  Country 
notes  for  other  sums.  In  that  same  year  there  was 
an  increase  of  a  MILLION  AND  A  HALF  in  the 
amount  of  the  Bank  of  England  notes ;  so  that,  in 
the  year  1809,  the  total  amount  of  the  increase  of 
the  notes  of  all  sorts  could  not  be  less  than  six  mil- 
lions and  a  half.  And  yet  "  the  most  thinking  peo- 
ple" seem  to  be  quite  astonished,  that  they  no  longer 
see  any  guineas  ;  that  guineas  are  bought  up  and 
sent  abroad  ;  and  that  people  in  trade  purchase,  at  a 
premium,  with  bank  notes,  the  things  called  shil- 
lings and  sixpences,  from  the  keepers  of  the  Turn- 
pike Gates. 

The  amount  of  the  country  notes,  though  it  has 
not  been  ascertained  by  the  Bullion  Committee,  and 
though  they  were  unable  to  ascertain  it,  may  be  com- 
puted with  a  tolerable  degree  of  accuracy,  seeing 
that  they  have  ascertained  and  stated,  that  there  was 
in  the  five  and  ten  pound  notes  alone,  an  increase  to 
the  amount  of  three  millions  of  pounds  in  the  year 
1S09,  and  in  the  whole  of  the  Bank  of  England 
notes  to  the  amount  of  a  million  and  a  half;  for, 
unless  any  one  can  see,  which  I  cannot,  any  reason 
for  a  greater  proportionate  increase  in  the  country 
bank  paper  than  in  the  London  Bank  paper,  the 
question  is  nothing  more  than  a  very  plain  one  in  the 
Rule  of  Three,  (if  one  ought,  in  such  a  case,  to  be 
permitted  to  use  the  Golden  Rule,)  and  which  ques- 
tion would  thus  present  itself;  if  1,500,000,  of  in- 
crease require  a  total  amount  of  issues  of  21,249.980, 
what  total  amount  of  issues  will  be  required  by  an  in- 
crease of  3,095,340.  The  answer  will  be  43,000,000 
and  upwards.  And  if  we  make  our  computation  upon 
the  increase  of  5,000,000,  we  shall  find  the  whole 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  279 

amount  of  Country  bank  notes,  in  1809,  to  have  been 
70,000,000  and  upwards,  which,  there  being  721  Coun- 
try banks,  is  less  than  100,000  for  each  ;  and,  it  is 
well  known,  that  many  of  them  have  half  a  million 
of  notes  out.  Your  great  Bank,  at  Salisbury,  had,  I 
believe,  notes  out  to  the  amount  of  600,000  pounds. 

Now,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  thing  that  can  be 
said  against  this  mode  of  computation.  I  am,  for 
my  own  part,  fully  persuaded  that  it  is  fair,  and,  that 
the  result  of  it  is  not  very  far  from  the  truth.  But, 
in  order  to  leave  no  room  for  cavil,  let  us  suppose 
the  amount  of  the  Country  notes  to  be  only  one  half 
what  it  is  here  computed  at.  Even  in  that  case  there 
must  be  now  in  circulation  paper  promises  to  the 
amount  of  56  millions  of  pounds  and  upwards. 

This,  then,  is  the  sum  against  which  we  have  to 
set  the  coin  and  bullion,  the  gold  and  silver  in  the 
hands  of  the  London  Bank  Company,  and  in  those 
of  the  Country  Bankers.  What  is  the  exact  amount 
of  this  no  one  can  tell,  but  every  one  must  suppose, 
that,  comparatively,  it  is  very  small  indeed;  for  if 
this  had  not  been  the  case  with  regard  to  the  Bank 
Company,  even  in  1797,  why  did  they  not  state  the 
amount  of  their  real  money  ?  Why  were  they  so 
shy  upon  that  score  ?  And,  indeed,  if  their  stock  of 
real  money  had  been  very  good  indeed^  why  did  they 
apply  to  the  Minister  to  know  when  he  would  inter- 
fere ?  If  they  could  have  stood  a  run  of  a  week, 
they  would  have  needed  no  Act  of  Parliament  to 
protect  them  against  the  demands  of  the  note  holders. 
But  this  they  could  not  stand  ;  and  there  needs  no 
other  proof  of  the  smallness  of  the  quantity  of  their 
cash. 

In  Letter  XV,  page  203,  we  have  seen,  that  the 
whole  amount  of  their  Cash  and  Bullion  and  Bills 
discounted  was  only  4,176,080  pounds,  on  the  25th 
of  February,  1797.  As  wras  there  asked,  who  is  to 
say  how  much  of  this  consisted  of  Bills  discounted? 
If  more  than  half  had  consisted  of  cash  and  bullion, 
they  would  not  have  been  jumbled  together  with 


280  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Bills  discounted.  Indeed,  the  cash,  at  that  time,  in 
possession  of  the  Bank  Company,  was  computed  at 
1,272,000  pounds,  and,  in  a  speech  of  Mr.  TIERNEY, 
quoted  in  Letter  XX.,  page  271,  it  is  stated  at 
1,000,000  of  pounds.  There  is  no  certainty  in  this, 
to  be  sure  ;  but,  Gentlemen,  we  are  quite  certain  of 
one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  when  men,  whether  sin- 
gle, or  in  companies,  have  plenty  of  pecuniary  means, 
they  never  are  very  cautious  to  disguise  the  fact. 

Is  it  probable  then,  that  the  quantity  of  cash  in  the 
hands  of  the  London  Bank  Company  has  increased 
since  1797?  Is  it  likely  that,  if  they  had  but  about 
a  million  before  they  were  protected  against  the  de- 
mands of  the  note-holders,  they  have  increased  the 
quantity  since?  Will  "  the  most  thinking"  people 
believe  this  ?  If  they  will,  there  is  certainly  no  doubt 
but  they  are  prepared  for  the  verification  of  the  old 
proverb  about  believing  that  the  "  moon  is  made  cf 
green  cheese." 

And,  as  to  the  Country  Ban*s,  to  suppose  that  they 
contain  any  thing  worthy  of  notice,  in  gold  or  bul- 
lion, would  be  too  absurd  to  be  treated  seriously. 
The  moon-raking  adventure,  which  has  been  ascri- 
bed to  a  Wiitshireman,  was  thus  applied  by  DEAN 
SWIFT  at  the  memorable  time  of  the  South  Sea  Bub- 
He,  when  so  many  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  families  were  ruined  by  jobbers  and  dealers  in 
/unds  and  Stocks : 

One  night  a  fool  into  a  brook 
Thus  from  a  hillock  looking  down, 

The  Golden  stars  for  guineas  took, 
And  Silver  Cynthia  for  a  crown. 

The  point  he  could  no  longer  doubt, 
He  ran,  he  leap'd  into  the  flood, 

There  sprawl'd  awhile,  and  scarce  got  out, 
All  cover'd  o'er  with  slime  and  mud.          » 

But,  Gentlemen,  foolish  as  our  poor  countryman 
was,  in  this  case,  he  was  not  half  so  worthy  of  ridi- 
cule as  we  should  be,  if  we,  with  all  the  informa- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  281 

tion  we  now  possess,  or  have,  at  least,  had  the 
means  of  possessing,  were  still  to  believe,  that  Coun- 
try Bankers  have,  or  ever  will  have,  gold  or  silver 
sufficient  to  pay  off  a  thousandth  part  of  the  notes 
that  they  have  issued. 

After  taking  this  view  of  the  matter  ;  after  com- 
paring the  amount  of  the  bank  notes  with  the  amount 
of  the  Cash  and  Bullion,  in  the  hands  of  those  by 
whom  the  notes  have  been  issued,  ought  we  to  won- 
der, that  those  persons,  and  all  their  friends,  depre- 
cate the  notion  of  paying  again  in  cash?  You  have 
seen,  Gentlemen,  in  the  course  of  these  Letters,  that 
the  Bank  Company  have  been  represented,  upon  se- 
veral occasions,  as  being  perfectly  ready  to  pay  again 
in  cash,  and  that  they  have  upon  all  occasions,  been 
represented  as  able  to  pay  again  in  cash.  You  have, 
all  along,  heard  the  Stoppage  spoken  of  as  a  tem- 
porary measure ;  as  a  measure  to  last  only  for  a 
t\me  ;  the  pretences  were  lame,  to  be  sure,  but  still 
there  were  pretences.  Now  all  this  is  thrown  aside, 
and  they  say,  in  plain  terms,  that  not  to  pay  in  cash 
is  a  very  good  permanent  system. 

With  such  a  mass  of  paper,  and  so  little  coin  and 
bullion,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  paper 
would  not  depreciate  or  fall  in  value:  but,  as  I 
wish  to  make  this  depreciation  the  subject  of  a 
separate  Letter,  I  shall  here  conclude,  by  subscribing 
myself 

Your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  December  17th,  1810. 


LETTER  XXII. 


*  Legal  Tenders  have  been  the  cause  of  the  overthrow  of  every  financial 
system  into  which  they  have  been  introduced."— Essay  on  American  Pu- 


rer-money- 

24* 


282  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

The  Question  of  Legal  Tender  in  Bank  of  England  Notes- 
Two  Letters  received  from  Correspondents  as  to  the  true 
Constitution  and  Practice  of  the  Act  of  1797— How  far  the 
Bank  of  England  Notes  are  a  Legal  Tender — They  are  so 
far  as  relates  to  Debts  due  from  the  Bank  of  England  inclu- 
ding the  Dividends— Not  so  with  regard  to  Debts  and 
Contracts  between  man  and  man — Any  holder  of  a  Coun- 
try Bank  Note  may  compel  the  Payment  of  it  in  the  Coin 
of  the  Kingdom— This  proved  by  the  Decision  in  the  Case 
of  Grigby  against  Oakes — The  opinions  of  the  four  Judges 
in  that  Case — The  Justice  of  this  Decision — The  Reason 
why  People  have  not  hitherto  compelled  the  Country  Bank- 
ers to  pay  their  Notes  in  Coin. 

GENTLEMEN, 

THE  proposed  subject  of  this  Letter  was  an  in- 
quiry into  the  rate  of  the  depreciation  of  paper- 
money  /  but  two  letters,  which  I  have  received,  in 
the  last  six  days,  the  one  from  Glasgow,  and  the 
other  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Exeter,  induce  me 
to  devote  this  present  Letter  to  the  answering  of 
them,  they  being  upon  the  very  important  subject  of 
the  legal  tender. 

The  writer  of  the  first  letter  expresses  his  doubts 
as  to  the  correctness  of  my  exposition  of  the  Bank 
Stoppage,  or  Restriction  Act,  (See  Letter  XVI., 
page  210,)  and  his  wishes  that  I  would  give  him  my 
opinion  again,  after  having  taken  time  to  revise  what 
I  before  said  upon  this  part  of  the  subject.  My  cor- 
respondent near  Exeter,  who  tells  me  that  he  is  a 
farmer,  thanks  me  for  the  useful  information  that 
he  is  so  good  as  to  say  he  has  received  from  this  se- 
ries of  Letters,  and  begs  me,  in  a  very  earnest  man- 
ner, to  tell  him,  whether  I  am  quite  sure,  that  I  was 
correct,  when  I  said,  that  any  holder  of  country  bank 
notes  might  compel  the  payment  of  them  in  gold 
and  silver.  Both  these  gentlemen  have  put  their 
names  to  their  letters  ;  but,  as  the  same  doubts  and 
uncertainties  may  have  occurred  to  others  of  my 
readers,  I  shall  give  my  answer  in  this  public  man- 
ner, and,  after  having  done  so,  there  will,  I  trust, 
remain  no  doubt  or  uncertainty  at  all. 

I  stated  to  you,  Gentlemen,  in  Letter  XVI.,  that, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  283 

as  far  as  related  to  debts  due  from  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, the  notes  of  that  Bank  were,  by  the  Act  of 
1797,  called  the  Bank  Stoppage  or  Restriction  Act, 
made  a  legal  tender  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  credi- 
tor was  compelled  to  take  those  notes  in  payment, 
or  to  go  without  any  payment  at  all.  If,  for  instance, 
any  one  of  you  has  a  Bank  of  England  note  of  ten 
pounds,  and  carry  it  to  Threadneedle-street  for  pay- 
ment, the  Bank  Company  may  compel  you  to  take 
other  of  their  notes  in  payment,  or  they  may,  if  you 
refuse  such  notes  in  payment,  refuse  you  payment  in 
any  thing  else. 

It  is  the  same  with  regard  to  the  payment  of  the 
dividends)  that  is  to  say,  the  interest  of  the  Stocks 
or  Funds.  If,  for  instance,  our  neighbour,  GRIZZLE 
GREENHORN,  when  she  goes  to  receive  her  half-year's 
interest  upon  her  Stock,  which,  you  know,  is  paid 
her  by  the  Bank  Company,  were  to  say :  "  pay  me 
in  good  gold  and  silver,"  she  would,  or  might,  re- 
ceive for  answer,  an  assertion,  that  the  law,  the  Act 
of  1797,  protected  the  Bank  Company  against  such 
an  unreasonable  demand.  In  a  word,  the  Bank 
Company  might  refuse,  absolutely  refuse  to  pay  her 
her  interest  in  any  thing  but  their  own  promissory 
notes ;  and  then,  if  she  tendered  them  those  promis- 
sory notes  for  payment,  they  might  refuse  to  pay 
them  in  any  thing  but  other  of  their  own  notes ; 
that  is  to  say,  they  would  be  ready  to  give  her  fresh 
promises  to  pay  in  lieu  of  the  promises  to  pay 
which  they  had  given  her  before  ;  but,  she  could  not 
compel  them  to  give  her  one  shilling's  worth  of  gold 
or  silver,  except  there  might  be  due  to  her,  in  the 
way  of  interest,  any  fractional  part  of  a  pound. 

Thus  far,  then,  the  Bank  Company's  notes  are  a 
legal  tender.  And,  in  the  affairs  between  man  and 
man,  if  such  notes  be  once  accepted  and  received 
in  payment  of  any  debt  whatever,  they  are,  after 
such  acceptance  and  receipt,  to  be  considered  as  a 
legal  payment  in  that  case.  If,  for  instance,  I  owe 
my  neighbour  a  hundred  pounds,  and  tender  him 


284  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Bank  of  England  notes  in  payment,  and  he  receive 
them  in  payment  to  the  amount  of  the  sum  due  to 
him,  he  is  paid,  I  am  acquitted  of  my  deht ;  he  can- 
not afterwards  sue  me  for  the  debt,  upon  the  ground 
that  I  have  not  paid  him  money,  as  he  might  do  in 
the  case  of  other  promissory  notes,  if  there  were  no 
particular  agreement  to  bar  him. 

But  here  the  legal  tender  of  Bank  of  England 
notes  stops.  They  are  not  yet,  in  any  other  case, 
put  upon  a  footing  with  money.  As  to  all  the  trans- 
actions between  man  and  man,  except  in  the  above 
circumstances,  which  can  occur  only  where  the 
Bank  of  England  itself  is  a  party,  no  person  is 
obliged  to  take  Bank  of  England  notes  in  payment 
of  any  debt,  or  legal  demand.  And  this  is  a  thing 
well  Worthy  of  the  attention  of  all  those,  who  have 
it  in  contemplation  to  enter  into  contracts  which  are 
to  have  a  future  operation;  for  if  the  value  of  gold 
and  silver,  compared  with  that  of  bank  notes,  should 
continue  to  increase,  those  who  now  make  contracts 
for  payments  to  be  made  some  years  hence,  should 
bear  it  constantly  in  mind,  that  the  party  to  whom 
they  will  have  to  make  such  payment,  will,  at  all 
times,  have  it  in  his  power  to  insist  upon  gold  coin 
in  payment. 

If  this  be  the  law,  without  any  other  exceptions 
than  those  above  named,  it  follows,  of  course,  that  I 
can  have  not  the  least  hesitation  in  telling  my  De- 
vonshire correspondent,  that  I  am  quite  sure,  that 
any  holder  of  a  Country  bank  note  has  it,  at  all 
times,  in  his  power  to  compel  the  payment  of  it  in 
gold  or  silver  coin  from  the  King^s  mint,  and  of 
full  weight  and  due  fineness.  I  know  that  a  differ- 
ent notion  has  prevailed  ;  and  I  have  heard  it  said, 
or  seen  it  stated  in  print,  that  this  compulsion  cannot 
be  effected  ;  because,  it  has  been  said,  if  you  were 
to  bring  your  action  of  debt  against  Paperkite  and 
Co.,  they  would  pay  the  amount  into  Court  in  Bank 
of  England  notes ;  and  that,  upon  proof  of  their 
having  done  this  being  produced,  the  Court  would 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  285 

stop  the  proceedings,  or,  at  least,  throw  all  the  costs 
thereafter  incurred  upon  you. 

This  would,  indeed,  make  the  Bank  of  England 
notes  a  legal  tender  in  fact,  though  not  in  law  ;  or, 
in  other  words,  it  would  make  an  Act  of  Parliament 
a  mere  delusion,  a  shuffle,  a  cheat,  a  base  premedi- 
tated fraud.  But  this  is  all  a  mistake ;  it  is  not 
founded  in  fact ;  the  Courts  would  attempt  to  do  no 
such  thing ;  for,  if  one  could,  in  any  case,  suppose 
the  inclination  to  exist,  in  the  mind  of  a  Judge,  he 
would  not  do  it,  or  think  of  it,  in  the  face  of  what 
has  already  been  done. 

The  question  has  been  decided,  and  that,  too,  with 
all  possible  solemnity,  as  will  appear  from  the  case 
which  I  am  now  about  to  lay  before  you,  and  the  pe- 
rusal of  which  will  remove  all  d.oubts  whatever  upon 
the  subject. — There  appears  to  have  been  no  doubt 
about  the  letter  of  the  law,  in  the  mind  of  either  of 
my  correspondents  ;  but  they  both  doubt  of  its  inter- 
pretation in  the  Courts;  and  the  last  mentioned 
gentleman  says,  that,  though  upon  the  face  of  the 
Act,  there  is  nothing  to  warrant  the  supposition,  that 
a  holder  of  a  Country  bank  note  could  not  compel 
the  payment  of  it  in  gold  and  silver,  yet  he  thinks, 
that  such  holder  would,  by  the  judicial  construction, 
of  the  Act,  be  defeated  in  any  attempt  to  compel 
such  payment ;  and,  he  seems  to  think,  that  this  is 
pretty  clearly  demonstrated,  in  the  fact,  (as  he  sup- 
poses it  to  be,)  that  no  one  has  ever  yet  attempted  to 
compel  Country  Bankers  to  pay  their  notes  in  gold 
and  silver. 

He  will,  doubtless,  be  surprised  to  find,  that  the 
attempt  has  not  only  been  made  but  that  it  fully 
succeeded.  In  the  year  1801,  four  years  after  the 
Bank  Stoppage,  or  Restriction  Act  was  passed,  a 
Mr.  GRIGBY,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  went  to  the 
Bank  Shop  of  Messrs.  OAKES  and  Co.  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's Bury,  and  in  presenting  them  one  of  their 
own  Five  Guinea  notes  for  payment,  demanded 
money.  The  Bankers  tendered  him  a  Jive  pound 


286  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Bank  of  England  note,  and  Jive  shillings,  which 
he  refused  to  receive,  saying,  that  the  five  pound  Bank 
of  England  note  was  not  money,  and  that  he  would 
not  take  it.  The  Bankers  told  him,  that  if  he  wanted 
specie  for  his  accommodation,  they  would  let  him 
have  it.  He  declined  to  receive  it  in  that  way  ;  he 
said  that  he  stood  in  no  need  of  it  as  an  accommo- 
dation; that  he  demanded  it  as  a  right;  and  that, 
unless  they  paid  him  in  the  com  of  the  kingdom,  he 
would  bring  an  action,  of  debt  against  them.  Upon 
this  ground  they  refused  him  payment  in  coin,  where- 
upon he  brought  his  action  and  obtained  a  verdict  in 
his  favour  at  the  Assizes  ;  but  the  question  of  law 
was,  upon  the  motion  of  the  Defendants'  counsel,  re- 
served for  decision  by  the  Judges ;  and  the  follow- 
ing is  the  Report  of  the  Case,  as  argued  before,  and 
determined  by  the  four  Judges,  of  the  COURT  OF  COM- 
MON PLEAS,  on  the  19th  of  November,  1801. 

GRIGBY  against  OAKES  and  another — "  This  was 
an  action  on  a  promissory  note  ;  the  Defendants  as  to 
all  but  five  guineas  pleaded  non  assumps erunt,  and 
as  to  the  remaining  five  guineas,  they  pleaded  a 
tender.  The  cause  came  on  to  be  tried  at  the  Sum- 
mer Assizes  for  Suffolk,  before  Mr.  Baron  Hotham, 
when  a  verdict  was  found  for  the  Plaintiff,  with  one 
shilling  damages,  subject  to  the  opinion  of  the  Court 
upon  the  following  case.  The  Defendants  are 
Bankers  at  Bury  St.  Edmund's,  and  issued  the  note 
in  question  for  five  guineas,  payable  on  demand  to 
the  bearer.  On  the  31st  of  January  last,  the  Plain- 
tiff carried  several  notes  to  the  shop  of  the  Defendant, 
and  demanded  payment.  He  first  presented  other 
notes,  to  the  amount  of  fifty  guineas,  for  which  he 
received  payment,  partly  in  Bank  of  England  notes 
and  partly  in  cash,  the  cash  being  ten  pounds,  and 
being  the  proportion  of  money  they  usually  Day. 
He  then  presented  the  note  in  question,  for  which 
the  Defendants  tendered  in  payment  a  five  pound 
Bank  of  England  note  and  five  shillings  in  silver. 
This  the  Plaintiff  refused,  on  the  ground  that  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  287 

tender  was  partly  in  a  Bank  of  England  note,  ob- 
jecting to  such  note,  and  insisted  on  being  paid 
wholly  in  money.  The  Plaintiff*  did  not  at  the  time 
say  he  wanted  money  for  his  own  particular  accom- 
modation, but  stated  that  he  came  on  purpose  to  have 
cash  for  the  note,  or  to  bring  an  action  if  payment  in 
money  was  refused. 

"  The  question  for  the  opinion  of  the  Court  was, 
Whether,  under  the  circumstances  before  stated,  the 
Plaintiff  was  entitled  to  recover? 

"  Serjeant  SHEPHERD,  for  the  Defendants,  urged, 
that  though  unquestionably  previous  to  the  passing 
of  the  37  Geo,  3.  c.  45,  commonly  called  the  Bank 
Act,  a  bank  note  would  not  have  been  a  legal  tender, 
yet  that,  since  the  passing  of  the  above  Act,  such 
notes  must  be  considered  as  cash,  for  that  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  the  above  Act  being  to  absorb 
a  vast  proportion  of  the  actual  cash  of  the  country, 
the  Legislature  must  have  intended  to  give  a  new 
character  to  Bank  notes  by  way  of  substitute ;  that 
they  had  specifically  declared  them  to  be  a  good 
tender  so  as  to  prevent  an  arrest,  and  yet  if  the  same 
spirit  which  actuated  the  present  Plaintiff  in  the  com- 
mencement of  this  action  was  to  continue  to  influence 
his  conduct,  and  that  of  others  also,  a  Defendant, 
though  exempted  from  arrest,  might  ultimately  be 
taken  in  execution,  though  ready  to  pay  in  bank 
notes,  since  he  might  possibly  be  unable  to  satisfy 
the  judgment  obtained  against  him  altogether  in 
money  :  because  even  if  a  sale  of  his  goods  took 
place,  the  Sheriff  might  not  be  able  to  avoid  receiv- 
ing a  large  proportion  of  bank  notes  from  the  pur- 
chasers; that,  indeed,  in  some  respects,  bank  notes 
were  privileged  by  the  37  Geo.  3.  c.  45,  beyond  cash, 
inasmuch  as  a  tender  of  them  in  satisfaction  of  a 
debt  operated  to  discharge  a  party  from  arrest,  which 
was  not  the  ease  with  a  tender  of  money,  which 
must  be  pleaded  in  bar ;  and  that  no  contrary  infer- 
ence could  be  drawn  from  the  8th  section  of  the 
Act,  which  declared  payments  in  bank  notes  to  be 


288  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

equivalent  to  payments  in  cash,  if  made  and  ac- 
cepted as  such,  because  that  must  have  been  the  case 
before  the  passing  of  the  Act,  and  therefore  that 
clause  must  be  deemed  nugatory. 

"  Serjeant  SELLON,  on  the  other  side,  was  slopped 
by  the  Court. 

"LORD  ALVANLEY,  (Chief  Justice.) — The  ques- 
tion for  the  Court  to  decide  is  a  mere  question  of 
law,  arising,  as  it  has  been  contended,  out  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  37  Geo.  3.  c.  45.  In  fact  we  are  called 
upon  to  say  whether  it  follows  as  a  necessary  con- 
sequence from  that  Act,  that  a  tender  in  bank  notes 
is  equivalent  to  a  tender  in  money  ?  It  may  be  very 
true  that  individuals  may  be  occasionally  subjected 
to  great  inconveniences  from  the  operation  of  that 
Act ;  but  are  we  therefore  to  say  that  the  Legisla- 
ture has  enacted  that  which  the  provisions  of  the 
Act  do  not  warrant  ?  If  we  were  at  liberty  to  refer 
to  our  own  private  knowledge  of  the  language  that 
was  held  in  Parliament  while  this  Act  was  pending, 
no  doubt  could  be  entertained  upon  the  subject. 
We  know  that  it  was  very  much  canvassed  at  that 
time,  Whether  or  not  the  Legislature  ought  to  go 
the  length  of  declaring  bank  notes  a  good  legal  ten- 
der ?  If,  therefore,  it  had  been  intended  by  the  Le- 
gislature so  to  make  them,  that  intention  would  have 
been  expressed  in  such  clear  terms  that  no  question 
could  have  have  arisen  upon  the  subject.  Indeed,  it 
is  expressly  provided,  in  the  2nd  section  of  the  Act, 
that  if  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of 
England  shall  be  sued  on  any  of  their  notes,  or  for 
any  sum  of  money,  payment  of  which  in  their  notes 
the  party  suing  refuses  to  accept,  they  may  ap- 
ply to  the  Court  in  which  such  proceedings  are  in- 
stituted, to  stay  proceedings  during  such  time  as  they 
are  restricted  from  paying  in  cash.  But  with  respect 
to  individuals  it  was  not  intended  to  prevent  any 
creditor,  who  should  be  so  disposed,  from  captiously 
demanding  a  payment  in  money,  though  such  a  cre- 
ditor is  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  arresting  his  debtor 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  289 

Thank  God,  few  such  creditors  as  the  present  Plain- 
tiff have  been  found  since  the  passing  of  the  Act ! 
But  yet,  whatever  inconveniences  may  arise,  and  to 
whatever  length  they  may  go,  Parliament,  and  not 
this  Court,  must  be  applied  to  for  a  remedy.  Incon- 
venience arising  from  the  operation  of  an  Act  of 
Parliament,  can  be  no  ground  of  argument  in  a 
Court  of  Law;  and  even  if  it  were,  still  I  should 
entertain  no  doubt,  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
Legislature  to  make  bank  notes  a  legal  payment 
only  in  certain  cases  by  them  expressed,  and  that  in 
all  other  cases  they  should  remain  upon  the  same 
footing  upon  which  they  stood  before  the  Act,  ex- 
cept as  to  the  exemption  from  arrest,  which  they  af- 
ford to  the  party  tendering  them  in  payment.  The 
8th  section  of  the  Act,  which  has  been  treated  as 
nugatory  in  the  argument,  however  it  may  enact 
nothing  new,  still  appears  to  me  pregnant  with  the 
intentions  of  Parliament,  and  to  speak  loudly  the  re- 
solution not  to  alter  the  character  of  bank  notes,  but 
in  those  cases  which  are  specially  provided  for. 
Without,  however,  referring  to  any  of  those  specific 
clauses,  and  arguing  from  them  as  to  the  intent  of 
the  Legislature,  I  should  be  clearly  of  opinion,  that 
the  present  Plaintiff  is  entitled  to  our  judgment  in 
his  favour. 

"  Judge  HEATH.  I  am  of  the  same  opinion.  The 
question  for  us  to  decide  is,  whether  a  tender  in  bank 
notes  is  a  good  legal  tender.  Now  the  37  Geo.  3.  c. 
45,  appears  to  me  to  negative  that  question  ;  for  the 
several  provisions  of  the  Act  making  them  a  good 
and  legal  tender  in  certain  excepted  cases,  excludes 
the  idea  of  their  being  so  generally  in  cases  not  pro- 
vided for  by  the  Act.  It  has  been  argued,  however, 
that  the  operation  of  the  Act  will  in  many  cases  be 
very  injurious,  unless  we  determine  it  to  be  a  neces- 
sary inference  from  the  Act  that  bank  notes  were 
intended  by  the  Legislature  to  be  put  upon  the  same 
footing  as  cash.  But  whatever  inconveniences  may 
arise,  the  Courts  of  Law  cannot  apply  a  remedy. 
25 


290  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

I  think,  irrdeed,  the  Legislature  acted  wisely,  having 
the  recent  example  of  France  before  their  eyes,  to 
avoid  making  bank  notes  a  legal  tender;  for  in  France 
we  know  that  legislative  provisions  of  that  kind  in 
favour  of  paper  currency  only  tended  to  depreciate 
the  paper  it  was  designed  to  protect,  and  were  ulti- 
mately repealed,  as  injurious  in  their  nature. 

"  Judge  ROOKE.     I  am  of  the  same  opinion. 

"  Judge  CHAMBRE.  This  case  appears  to  me  almost 
too  plain  for  argument.  It  has  been  thought  that  the 
Courts  went  a  great  way  in  holding  a  tender  in  bank 
notes  to  be  a  good  tender,  if  not  objected  to  at  the 
time.  Certainly  that  was  an  innovation ;  though 
perhaps  a  beneficial  one.  But  the  Act  upon  which 
the  present  question  arises  aifords  nothing  but  argu- 
ments against  the  inference  attempted  to  be  drawn 
by  it.  Surely  the  observation  that  in  some  respects 
the  Legislature  have  put  bank  notes  on  a  more  fa- 
vourable footing  than  cash,  leads  to  a  conclusion  di- 
rectly contrary  to  that  which  it  was  intended  to  sup- 
port. If  the  Legislature  have  not  gone  far  enough, 
it  is  for  them,  not  for  us,  to  remedy  the  defect.  In- 
deed, by  making  bank  notes'  a  good  tender  in  cer- 
tain cases,  specifically  provided  for,  they  appear  to 
me  to  have  negatived  the  construction  we  are  now 
desired  to  put  upon  the  Act." 

It  will  hardly  be  doubted,  that  I  have  copied  this 
report  with  great  care.  I  have,  indeed,  given  every 
word  of  it ;  but,  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  corres- 
pondents, to  whom  I  am  really  obliged  for  their  in- 
quiries, I  will  add,  that  the  report  is  taken  from  a 
well  known  law-book,  entitled,  "  Bosanquet's  and 
Puller's  Reports  of  Cases  argued  and  determined  in 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Exchequer  Cham- 
ber and  in  the  House  of  Lords,  from  Michaelmas 
Term,  in  the  40th  year  of  the  reign  of  George  III. 
(1799)  to  Michaelmas  Term,  in  the  42nd  Year  of 
the  same  reign,  ( 1801,)  both  inclusive." 

After  reading  this  report,  there  cannot  remain,  in 
the  mind  of  any  man,  the  smallest  doubt  upon  this 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  291 

subject.  Here  is  the  fact,  in  practice  as  well  as  in 
theory,  clearly  established,  that  any  holder  of  a 
Country  bank  note,  payable  to  bearer  on  demand, 
or  the  holder  of  any  such  note,  except  of  the  Bank 
of  England,  may,  at  any  time  when  he  pleases,  de- 
mand payment  of  such  note  in  the  gold  and  silver 
coin  issued  from  the  King's  mint,  that  coin  being  of 
legal  weight  and  fineness.  And,  if  such  payment 
be  refused,  upon  demand,  the  holder  of  such  note 
may  immediately  proceed  to  sue  for  such  payment, 
which,  if  the  party  sued  has  the  means,  he  must 
finally  pay  in  coin,  together  with  full  costs  of  suit.* 
And,  indeed,  if  this  was  not  the  law,  the  Bank  of 
England  notes  would  be  a  legal  tender  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes ;  for,  the  issuers  of  these  notes 
being  protected  by  law  against  the  holders  of  them, 
the  holder  of  a  Country  bank  note  would  have  no 
claim  upon  the  Country  Banker,  or  upon  any  body 
else,  for  coin.  The  man  who  chooses  to  take  a 
Bank  of  England  note,  does  it,  knowing  that  he 
cannot  force  any  one  to  pay  him  its  nominal  amount 
in  coin  ;  and,  therefore,  if  he  choose  to  take  it,  he  has 
no  reason  to  complain.  Persons  who  buy  Stock, 
know  that  they  are  to  be  paid  their  interest  in  Bank 
of  England  notes ;  and,  therefore,  they  have  no  rea- 
son to  complain.  But,  if  either  of  you  sell  your 
corn,  or  your  wool,  and  take  a  Country  bank  note 
for  it,  that  is  to  say,  the  .promissory  note  of  your 
neighbour,  you  expect  to  have  the  real  worth  of  your 
corn,  or  your  wool ;  and,  of  course,  you  expect  to 
be  paid  by  your  neighbour  in  the  real  money  of  the 
kingdom,  which  money,  as  I  have  now  shown  you, 
you  have  a  legal,  as  well  as  a  moral  right,  to  de- 
mand. 

*  The  shilling  damages,  mentioned  in  the  first  part  of 
the  above  Report,  is  merely  the  nominal  damages,  which  it  is 
the  custom  to  lay,  in  cases  where  the  object,  as  in  this  case, 
is  to  ascertain  me  question  of  right.  But,  the  Plaintiff' had 
his  costs  of  suit  in  this  case,  as  every  other  Plaintiff'  must 
have,  who  brings  an  action  in  a  similar  way,  and  on  similar 
grounds. 


292  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Lest  any  one  should  raise  a  doubt  upon  the  cir- 
cumstance of  Mr.  GRIGBY'S  demand  having  been 
founded  upon  a  note  given  for  guineas  instead  of 
pounds,  I  beg  you  to  observe,  that  this  circumstance 
was  not  even  alluded  to  by  either  of  the  Judges,  or 
by  the  Counsel  who  argued  against  Mr.  GRIGBY. 
You  will  perceive,  besides,  that  the  Judges  speak 
generally  of  all  debts,  except  those  only  due  from 
the  Bank  of  England  itself.  The  decision  is  founded 
upon  the  broad  principle,  that  Bank  of  England  notes 
may  be  refused  in  all  cases,  except  only  those  where- 
in the  Bank  of  England  itself  is  the  debtor,  in- 
cluding the  dividends  upon  the  National  Debt,  and 
there  the  Bank  is  regarded  as  the  debtor  to  the  Stock- 
holder. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  your  observation,  that,  though 
the  Chief  Justice  seemed  to  think,  that  it  might  be- 
come necessary  to  make  the  Bank  of  England  notes 
a  legal  tender  in  all  cases,  another  of  the  Judges 
expressed  himself  as  decidedly  of  opinion,  that  such 
a  measure  would  be  both  unjust  and  impolitic ;  and 
indeed,  that  it  would  be,  in  part,  at  least,  to  imitate 
the  measures  of  ROBESPIERRE,  who  compelled  the 
people  of  France  to  take  paper-money  upon  pain  of 
death. 

If  it  should  be  asked,  why  other  persons  have  not 
done  as  Mr.  GRIGBY  did,  the  answer  is,  that  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country,  generally  speaking,  have  really 
thought,  that,  by  the  Act  of  1797,  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land notes  were  made,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a 
legal  tender,  and  of  course,  that  if  a  man  refused  to 
take  them  in  payment,  he  had  not  the  means  of  for- 
cing the  debtor  to  pay  him  in  any  other  sort  of  thing. 
Nor  is  this  generally  prevailing  error  to  be  much 
wondered  at  seeing  what  were  the  means  made  use 
of  at  the  time  of  the  Bank  Stoppage.  When  you  .re- 
flect upon  the  famous  meeting  and  resolutions  at  the 
Mansion  House  in  London,  the  secret  history  of 
which  I  have  given  you.  When  you  reflect  upon 
the  effect  of  these  RESOLUTIONS,  issued  under  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  293 

signature  of  the  LORD  MAYOR  ;  followed,  as  they  im- 
mediately were,  by  Resolutions  of  a  similar  purport, 
from  the  PRIVY  COUNCIL,  and  from  the  Justices  as- 
sembled in  Quarter  Sessions,  in  the  several  counties. 
When  you  reflect  on  the  official  manner,  and  the 
authoritative  air  of  all  these  promulgations^  you 
will  cease  to  wonder,  that  the  Resolutions  to  take 
and  pay  the  paper  of  the  Bank  of  England  were,  hy 
the  mass  of  the  people,  regarded  as  having  the  force 
of  law. 

Now,  however,  you  know  the  true  value  of  those 
Resolutions  ;  you  know  what  is,  and  what  is  not, 
the  law  relating  to  this  important  matter,  in  which 
every  man  of  you  is  so  deeply  interested,  and  on 
your  judgment  and  discretion  with  respect  to  which 
may  depend  the  permanent  welfare  of  yourselves 
and  your  families,  to  assist  in  the  advancement  of 
which  welfare  has  always  been,  and  always  will  be, 
a  principal  object  of  the  labours  of 

Your  faithful  Friend, 
WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Monday,  2±th  Dec.  1810. 


LETTER  XXIII. 

"  It  is  in  the  last  twenty  years  of  the  Funding  System,  that  all  the  great 

shocks  begin  to  operate."— Paine. 

Events  since  the  Date  of  the  foregoing  Letter — Bank  Notice 
about  the  Dollar— Various  Reports  of  the  Effect  of  that 
Measure— Proposals  in  Parliament  respecting  the  Bullion 
Report. 

GENTLEMEN, 

IN  reviving  my  correspondence  with  you,  it  will 

be  necessary  for  me  to  revert  for  a  moment  to  the 

point,  at  which  I  broke  off,  which  was  at  Letter 

XXII.,  in  which,  as  you  will  recollect,  it  was  shown, 

25 


294  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

for  the  satisfaction  of  two  correspondents  in  the 
country,  that  any  man,  having  country  bank  notes  in 
his  possession,  had  (and  he  still  has,  of  course)  the 
power  of  compelling  the  drawer  of  such  notes  to 
payt  him  in  gold  or  silver,  the  lawful  coin  of  the 
realm. 

But,  that  Letter  was  a  digression  from  the  main 
track  of  our  subject,  which,  at  the  close  of  Letter 
XXL,  was  leading  us  into  the  great  question  as  to 
the  depreciation,  that  is  to  say,  fall,  of  the  Bank  of 
England  notes;  a  question  which  has  caused  more 
discussion  than  any  other  that  has  been  agitated  for 
many  years  past,  and  which,  I  think,  we  now  look 
upon  as  completely  decided,  seeing  that,  while  the 
dispute  was  going  on,  the  Bank  Company  themselves 
have  done  an  act  which  can,  in  the  mind  of  no  man 
out  of  a  mad-house,  leave  the  smallest  doubt  upon 
the  subject. 

Nevertheless,  as  I  wish  that  the  series  of  letters 
should  contain  the  whole  of  what  I  have  thought, 
and  still  think,  relating  to  this  interesting  matter ; 
I  shall  treat  of  the  question  here  spoken  of,  after  I 
have  recorded  the  events,  which  have  taken  place 
since  I  last  addressed  you;  and  which  events  are 
important  to  a  degree,  that  few  persons,  compara- 
tively speaking,  appear  to  imagine. 

When,  on  the  24th  of  December,  I  wrote  my  last 
Letter  to  you,  I  did  expect,  that  the  winter  would 
not  pass  over  our  heads  without  some  striking  change 
as  to  the  circulating  currency  of  the  country.  It  ap- 
peared to  me,  as  I  had,  upon  former  occasions,  told 
my  readers,  quite  impossible,  that  things  could  go  on 
much  longer  without  events  that  would  strike  the 
impudent  partisans  of  the  paper  system  dumb.  The 
guinea  had,  for  some  time,  been  a  marketable  com- 
modity ;  and  under  such  circumstances,  the  paper 
will  not  continue  much  longer  without  being  openly 
at  a  discount  in  all  transactions.  The  coin  of  every 
denomination  grew  daily  more  and  more  scarce ;  till 
at  last,  change  for  a  pound  note  was  with  difficulty 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  295 

obtained  ;  and,  as  these  difficulties  increased,  people 
of  course,  felt  an  increased  inclination  to  hoard  "the' 

As  a  remedy  for  this  evil,  the  Bank  Company  is- 
sued a  Notice,  raising  the  Dollar  (which  was  in  c  r 
culauon  at  the  rate  of  6..)  to  5.5.  6d.  and  it  was  after 
wards  found,  that  this  Notice  had  been  issued  wfth 
the  advice  and  approbation  of  the  PR.VY  COUNCIL  or 
at  least,  of  a  Committee  of  the  Privy  Counci     an 
pointed  to  watch  over  the  affairs  of  Coin.     This  No" 
tice,  which  was  first  published  on  the  18th  of  March 


to  take  ten  shi  lings  worth  or  15  shillings  worth  of 
halfpence  in  changing  a  pound   note,  which   half- 
pence were,  for  the  most  part,  mere  raps,  not  worth 
a  tenth  part  of  their  nominal  value 
Many  of  the  shop-keepers  in  London,  in  order  to 

tS^v  thbi,ra?-of,Kca^  on  their  wSr«S! 

tied,  by  bills  put  in  their  windows,  that  thev  would 
receive  the  Dollar,  (the  real  value  of  which   K2 
than  4..  Qd.)  at  5s.  9d.  and  some  of  them  notified 
hat  they  would  receive  it  at  6s.  The  same  continues 
to  be  done  now  ;  and  that  man  must  be  blind,  indeed 
who  does  not   perceive,  that  two  prices  have  to  a 
certain  extent,  already  taken  place.^  '       * 

e  inconvenience  arising  from  the  want  of  mo- 

?hry  Ffe^T  °  PZWnd  H0te  Was   felt  v«y  ^verely  by 
the  Bankers,  whose  customers,  drawing  upon  them 

Suentlv"  T3  that  ,lhey™S^  'happen  To  want    C 
quently  of  course,  drew  for  parts  of  a  pound.  These 

of  Anril  aV^  UDable  to  W5  and  °n  the  9  h 
*  April,  a  circular  paragraph  appeared  in  the 

e  " 


,d         exhor!JDg  peopl  to      to,d 

pounds.     On  the  same  day  it  was  stated,  that  in  th 
shops,  markets,  and  public  offices,  people  gave  I 


296  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ten  acknowledgments  for  the  parts  of  a  pound,  and 
left  them  thus  unpaid.  On  the  llth  of  April,  Mr. 
MANNING,  the  Deputy  Governor  of  the  Bank,  and 
who  is  also  a  Member  of  Parliament,  informed  the 
House,  that  the  Bank  were  about  to  issue  a  large 
quantity  of  Dollars  ;  and  he  observed,  that  those 
persons  who  were  hoarding  them,  in  the  expectation 
that  they  would  rise  in  price,  would  he  disappointed. 

Some  days  before  this  (on  the  4th  of  April)  the 

Bank  thought  it  necessary  to  publish  an  advertise- 
ment, that  the  report  of  great  quantities  of  their  notes 
having  been  forged,  and  that  the  plates  from  which 
the  said  notes  had  been  taken,  had  been  stolen,  was 
wholly  false ;  and,  it  seems,  that  this  report  was 
spread  very  widely  through  the  country ;  the  object 
being  to  excite  suspicion  of  the  Bank  of  England 
notes,  and  thereby  to  insure  a  preference  for  the 

Country  bank  notes. On  the  19th  of  April,  it  was 

stated  in  the  public  prints,  that  a  person  had  a  pro- 
missory note  dishonoured  because  he  could  not  pro- 
duce to  the  person,  who  had  to  receive  the  payment, 

the  change  of  ISs.  3d. On  the  23rd  of  April,  a 

prisoner,  confined  for  debt  in  the  Marshalsea  Prison, 
obtained  his  release,  because  his  creditor,  in  paying 
him  his  maintenance  money,  gave  him  a  piece  of  fo- 
reign coin  instead  of  a  sixpence. On  the  same 

day,  it  was  stated  in  the  public  prints,  that  at  some 
of  the  public  offices,  change  was  not  only  refused, 
but  that  certain  of  the  Clerks  in  those  offices,  were 
dealers  in  the  article,  and  supplied  the  bankers  with 
silver  at  3  per  cent. — —On  the  same  day,  23rd  of 
April,  JAMES  KING,  a  Guard  to  a  coach,  was  taken 
before  the  Lord  Mayor,  upon  a  charge  of  having 

bought  guineas,  and  was  held  to  bail. On  the 

26th  of  April,  there  was  a  paragraph,  published  in 
all  the  London  daily  prints,  stating,  that  the  Chinese 
had  just  discovered  that  gold  and  silver  were  too 
abundant  with  them,  and,  it  was  added,  that  they 
were  going  to  send  great  quantities  of  it  hither, 
some  of  which  might  be  speedily  expected.  In  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  297 

public  prints  of  the  27th,  29th,  and  30th  of  April,  it 
was  stated,  that  ten  thousand  pounds  in  gold  had 
been  seized  on  board  of  a  ship,  about  to  carry  it 
abroad.  Many  statements  of  this  sort  had  appeared 
before,  but  this  one  was  worthy  of  particular  atten- 
tion.  Also  that  a  riot,  attended  with  acts  of  vio- 
lence and  killing,  had  taken  place  at  Sampford,  in 

consequence  of  the  scarcity  of  change. A  circular 

paragraph  appeared  at  this  time  reprobating  the  prac- 
tice of  hoarding,  and  hinting  that  it  would  be  proper 
to  punish  it  as  a  crime. At  the  same  time  ano- 
ther circular  paragraph  appeared,  advising  people 
not  to  hoard  the  change*  for  that  a  new  silver  coin- 
age was  just  coming  out  that  would  sink  the  value  of 

the  present  coin. At  the  same  time  Mock  bank 

notes  were  circulated  from  the  King^s  Bench  and 
Fleet  Prisons,  by  the  means  of  which  some  unwary 
persons  were  cheated.  An  account  of  gold  lawfully 
exported  during  one  week,  was  published  at  this 
time,  from  which  it  was  manifest,  that  the  gold  and 
silver  were  going  to  France  and  her  dominions  as 
fast  as  possible.  It  was  now  announced  that  the 
Bank  had  issued  more  Dollars,  and  that  £300  worth 
had  been  sent  to  each  of  the  Banking  Houses  in 
London. 

Such,  Gentlemen,  were  the  symptoms  of  the  effect 
of  raising  the  nominal  value  of  the  dollar ;  and  on 
the  8th  of  May,  it  was  stated  in  the  public  prints, 
that  another  seizure  of  guineas  had  been  made  on 
board  a  ship  sent  into  Dover.  The  words  of  the 

statement  were  these  : "  Four  thousand  and  fifty 

more  guineas  have  been  found  on  board  the  ship 
sent  into  Dover  last  week.  It  is  supposed  she  will 
be  pulled  to  pieces,  as  her  very  iron  ballast  is  hol- 
lowed to  receive  gold.  She  is  called  the  New  Union 
of  London."  They  may  pull  her  to  pieces,  and  burn 
her;  they  may  do  what  they  like  with  her;  but, 
Gentlemen,  as  long  as  this  paper-money  exists  in 
England,  the  gold  and  silver  will  continue  to  go  out 
of  it  in  some  way  or  other.  The  Government  may 


298  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

be  ingenious,  and  we  know  it  is  able  to  employ  great 
numbers  of  artful  men  ;  but,  all  their  art  put  together ; 
and  all  the  powers  of  the  government,  not  excepting 
the  power  of  life  and  death,  will  never  make  gold 
and  silver  circulate  at  par  with  a  depreciated  paper. 

I  have  thus  filled  up  the  history  of  the  time  since  I 
last  addressed  you.  That  time  is  hardly  jive  months, 
and  yet,  what  events  are  here  I  What  a  change  is 
here,  in  so  short  a  space  of  time  !  And,  can  you  be 
made  to  believe,  that  the  thing  will  stop  where  it  is  1 
Is  it  possible  that  you  can  be  persuaded  to  believe, 
that  the  bank  notes  will  now,  or  will  ever,  revive  ? 
The  grand  effort  now,  with  all  those  who  wish  to 
deceive  the  people,  and  to  profit  from  their  credulity, 
is  to  persuade  them,  that  it  is  not  the  bank  note  that 
has  fallen;  but,  the  gold  and  silver  that  have  risen. 
This  seems  to  be  the  last  trick  in  the  budget ;  but, 
what  I  have  to  say  upon  this  head  I  must  reserve  till 
I  come  to  my  intended  Letter  upon  the  subject  of  de- 
preciation. 

In  the  mean  while  we  must  see  what  has  been 
passing  in  Parliament,  relating  to  this  matter ;  so 
that,  before  we  proceed  upon  the  remainder  of  our 
inquiries,  we  may  have  the  whole  history  of  the  pa- 
per money  before  us,  down  to  the  very  day  when  we 
shall  come  to  our  conclusion.  In  the  foregoing  Let- 
ters, there  will  be  found,  I  am  convinced,  the  most 
complete  history  of  our  Paper  Money  that  has  ever 
yet  appeared  in  print.  We  have  there  traced  it  from 
its  very  outset  to  the  day  when  the  people  of  Salis- 
bury became,  all  in  a  moment,  destitute  of  the  means 
of  getting  a  dinner.  In  this  Letter  its  history  has 
been  brought  down  to  last  Saturday  ;  and  all  that 
we  have  now  to  do  is  to  give,  in  as  few  words  as 
possible,  the  history  of  the  BULLION  DEBATE, 
which,  perhaps,  would  be  unnecessary  for  our  pre- 
sent purposes ;  but,  this  is  a  subject,  every  fact  'be- 
longing to  which  ought  to  be  so  recorded,  as  to  be 
capable  of  being  hereafter  referred  to ;  and  ought,  if 
possible,  to  be  made  known  in  every  part  of  the  world. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  299 

The  Report  of  the  Bullion  Committee,  which  was 
printed  last  year,  was  laid  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons but  a  short  time  previous  to  its  rising.  It  was 
ordered  to  be  printed  on  the  8th  of  June,  and  I  must 
say,  that  it  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  reflect,  that  it 
issued  from  the  press  on  the  very  day  that  I  was  sent 
to  jail!  I  shall  always  remember  this  with  satisfac- 
tion. It  will  be  a  source  of  delight  to  me  as  long  as 
I  have  breath  in  my  body ;  aye,  and  it  will  be  borne 
in  mind,  too,  long  after  the  bank  notes  and  all,  yea 
all,  that  thereon  depend,  shall  have  come  to  their 
true  level ;  their  proper  state. 

The  time  being  so  short,  the  House  could  not 
take  the  Report  into  consideration,  during  the  last 
Session ;  therefore,  this  part  of  the  business  was  to 
be  performed  during  this  Session.  The  Chairman 
of  the  Committee,  Mr.  FRANCIS  HORNER,  was  to  pro- 
pose some  measure  to  be  adopted  in  consequence  of 
the  Report ;  but,  he  being  a  lawyer  and  a  placeman 
at  the  same  time ;  having  to  go  the  Western  circuit, 
and  to  manage  the  Nabob  of  Arcot's  debts,  he,  of 
course,  could  hardly  find  time  for  this  Bullion  affair. 
After  many  appointments  and  disappointments,  how- 
ever, he,  at  last,  brought  the  matter  forward  on  Mon- 
day last,  the  6th  instant,  when  a  Debate  ensued, 
which  lasted  during  four  successive  nights;  it  being 
the  custom  in  this  Assembly  to  carry  on  the  greater 
part  of  their  works  after  it  is  dark. 

Previous,  however,  to  this  Debate,  Mr.  HORNER 
had  laid  upon  the  table  of  the  House  a  string  of 
PROPOSITIONS,  expressive  of  his  opinions  as  to  the 
state  of  the  coin  and  paper-money  of  the  country, 
and  also  as  to  the  remedy  to  be  applied.  In  a  few 
days  after  these  had  been  before  the  House,  Mr.  NI- 
CHOLAS VANSITTART,  who  took  the  other  side  of  the 
question,  laid  before  the  House  a  set  of  opposing 
PROPOSITIONS;  which  he  soon  afterwards  followed 
by  a  set  of  Propositions  being  the  former  set  amend- 
ed ;  and  these  were  followed  by  another  paper  from 
Mr.  HORNER,  containing  Propositions  in  the  form  of 


300  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

amendments  upon  his  brother  lawyer's  Propositions, 
both  of  the  gentlemen  being  "  learned  friends." 

The  way  being  thus  prepared,  all  the  preliminary 
steps  having  been  taken,  the  discussion  was  entered 
upon  on  the  day  before  mentioned,  at  the  end  of  one 
year,  two  months,  and  fourteen  days  from  the  time 
that  the  Committee  commenced  its  labours.  I  have 
begun  inserting  this  Debate,  and  I  shall  insert  all  the 
principal  speeches  before  I  have  done ;  and  I  do  it, 
because  I  wish  to  afford  all  iny  readers,  and  you, 
Gentlemen,  in  particular,  an  opportunity  of  perusing, 
at  your  leisure,  what  these  persons  have  said  upon 
this  important  subject ;  and,  besides,  my  wish  is  to 
place  these  speeches  where  they  may  be  at  all  times 
conveniently  referred  to,  seeing  that  my  conviction 
is,  that  events  are  now  hastening  on  apace  ;  events 
that  will  set  all  low  cunning,  all  chicanery,  all  trick, 
at  defiance  ;  and  that,  of  course,  will  put  the  opi- 
nions contained  in  these  speeches,  to  the  test.  My 
conviction  is,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when 
it  will  be  impossible  to  deceive  the  people  of  Eng- 
land ;  when  truth  will  reign ;  and,  at  that  time,  it 
will  be  of  great  advantage  for  us  to  know  what  have 
been  the  opinions  of  men  who  have  taken  a  part  in 
these  discussions,  and  to  what  point,  whether  good 
or  evil,  their  endeavours  have  tended. 

What  we  have  to  discuss  is  the  question  of  depre- 
ciation, or  fall,  in  the  value  of  the  bank  notes  ;  and, 
after  that,  the  remedy  proposed  by  Mr.  HORNER  and 
those  who  side  with  him.  I  shail,  I  trust,  go  to  work 
in  a  way  very  different  indeed  from  that  of  these 
gentlemen ;  and,  when  I  have  written  my  opinion, 
there  the  matter  will  rest,  and  the  truth  of  our  seve- 
ral opinions  will  be  tried  by  Time,  which  tries  all 
things. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen,  t 

Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Friday,  May  10^,  1811. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  301 

LETTER   XXIV. 

Sauce  for  the  Goose  is  sauce  for  the  Gander."— Old  Proverb. 


Injury  to  Commerce  by  Buonaparte— He  is  said  to  have 
caused  the  Gold  to  leave  England.— The  fault  is  with  our 
Government—  Our  Appeals  to  the  French  People  absurd- 
Forged  Bank  Notes  sent  into  Kent  from  France— Forged 
Assignats— Decision  in  the  Court  of  Kings  Bench. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WE  have  now  to  discuss  the  question  of  Depre- 
ciation. We  have  now  to  inquire,  whether  the 
Bank  of  England  notes  have,  or  have  not,  depreci- 
ated ;  that  is  to  say,  fallen  in  value.  After  what 
we  have  seen  in  the  former  Letters,  and  particularly 
in  that  immediately  preceding,  it  is,  indeed,  nearly 
useless  to  put  this  question  to  any  man  of  sense,  and 
much  more  so  to  make  it  a  subject  of  serious  discus- 
sion. Nevertheless,  it  will  be  right  so  to  do  ;  seeing 
that  these  Letters  are  intended  to  treat  of  every  part 
of  this  great  subject,  and  to  put  upon  record  all  the 
material  facts  and  arguments  appertaining  to  it. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the  Debate  on 
the  Bullion  Report,  and  on  the  Resolutions  thereon 
proposed,  by  Mr.  FRANCIS  HORNER  on  the  one  side, 
and  Mr.  NICHOLAS  VANSITTART,  on  the  other,  it  was 
contended  by  whose  who  were  for  Mr.  VANSITTART, 
that  is  to  say,  by  the  MINISTRY  and  their  adherents ; 
by  this  part  of  the  House  it  was  contended,  that  the 
Bank  paper  had  not  depreciated*  or  fallen  in  value ; 
and,  being  asked  how  they  then  accounted  for  the  fact, 
that  a  guinea  was  worth  26s.  or  27s.,  they  answered, 
that  it  was  very  true,  that  Gold  and  Silver  had 
risen  ;  but  that  the  Bank  paper  had  not  fallen. 

They  were  then  asked,  how,  since  they  would  in- 
sist upon  it  that  it  was  a  rise  of  Gold  and  Silver,  it 
had  come  to  pass  at  this  time  above  all  others.  Al- 
26 


302  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

lowing,  for  argument's  sake,  that  it  was  a  rise  in  the 
value  of  the  guinea,  they  were  asked  how  the  value 
of  the  guinea  came  to  rise.  Their  answer  to  this 
was,  that  it  was  owing  chiefly  to  the  injury  done  to 
our  commerce  by  the  extraordinary,  the  cruel,  the 
savage  measures  of  the  inexorable  tyrant,  Buona- 
parte, whom  they  designated  by  every  appellation 
characteristic  of  a  despot,  and  even  a  fiend. 

Gentlemen,  we  will  stop  here  and  make  a  few  ob- 
servations upon  these  charges  against  the  Emperor 
of  France  ;  for  it  would  be  very  foolish  in  us,  who 
call  ourselves  "  the  most  thinking  people  in  the 
world,"  to  suffer  ourselves  to  be  amused  with  charges 
against  Napoleon,  when  we  should  be  considering 
of  the  real  cause  of  the  mischief  that  is  now  come 
upon  us,  and  of  the  greater  mischief  that  is  still 
coming,  and  will  come  with  most  dreadful  effect, 
unless  we  take  timely  measures  for  preventing  that 
effect ;  this  would  be  selling  ourselves  to  laughter  in- 
deed, making  ourselves  an  object  for  the  contempt 
of  Europe,  not  excepting  the  Dutch,  and  those  other 
nations,  whom,  with  empty  insolence,  our  hireling 
writers  and  others  affect  to  pity. 

We  call  upon  the  Bank  for  Gold  and  Silver  in 
payment  of  their  promissory  notes.  They  have  no 
Gold  or  Silver  to  give  us  ;  or,  at  least,  none  do  they 
give.  They  are  protected  by  law  against  our  de- 
mands. Some  persons  propose  to  remove  this  im- 
pediment to  our  demands.  The  men  in  power  and 
a  great  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  say  no  ; 
and  they,  in  objecting  to  the  proposition,  say,  that 
the  Bank  have  not  the  gold  and  silver ;  that  they 
cannot  get  it ;  and  that  it  is,  therefore,  impossible 
to  make  them  pay.  This  is  a  sorry  answer  enough ; 
but,  when  we  complain,  we  are  told,  that  the  fault 
is  not  with  the  Government  or  with  the  Bank,  an£ 
that  it  is  wholly  with  Buonaparte,  by  the  means  of 
whose  laws,  edicts,  and  workings  of  one  sort  or 
another,  the  Gold  and  Silver  have  been  drawn  out 
of  England. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  303 

What  should  we  think,  Gentlemen,  what  should 
we,  "  thinking  people,"  think  of  a  general,  who 
was  to  write  home  word,  that  he  had  been  beaten 
and  routed,  and  lost  half  his  army  ;  but  that  the 
fault  was  none  of  his,  and  that  it  was  wholly  the 
fault  of  the  enemy's  general,  who  had  adopted 
against  him  a  series  of  extraordinary,  cruel,  and  sa- 
vage measures  ?  What  would  we,  thinking  people, 
say  to  such  a  general  ?  What  should  Mr.  Q,UIN,  the 
editor  of  the  Traveller  newspaper,  in  his  sublime 
orations,  in  the  Common  Council,  say  to  such  a  ge- 
neral ?  Would  he  vote  him  thanks  and  a  sword  ? 
I  do  not  say  that  he  would  not ;  but  I  think,  that 
you  will  agree  with  me,  that  such  a  general  would, 
amongst  most  men,  meet  with  but  a  cold  reception  ; 
and,  that  he  would  be  told,  that  it  was  the  business 
of  the  enemy  to  beat  him,  to  rout  him,  to  break  him 
up,  to  ruin  him ;  and  that  it  was  his  business  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy  from  so  doing,  and  also  to  beat,  and 
break  up,  and  ruin  the  enemy. 

Just  such,  must,  if  we  have  a  grain  of  sense  left, 
be  our  answer  to  the  ministers  and  their  adherents, 
when  they  blame  Buonaparte  for  having  deprived 
us  of  our  Gold  and  Silver.  It  was  their  business 
to  prevent  him  from  doing  us  this  mischief.  It  was 
their  business  to  protect  the  country  against  the  fa- 
tal effects  of  the  enemy's  measures ;  and.  if  they 
found  themselves  unequal  to  the  task,  they  should 
have  said  so  ;  and,  I  warrant  them,  there  would  not 
have  been  wanting  others  to  take  the  labour  off'  their 
hands.  These  ministers  and  their  predecessors,  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  have  had  the  complete  com- 
mand of  all  the  means,  all  the  resources,  of  this 
kingdom,  of  every  sort.  They  have  carried  all  the 
measures  that  they  proposed.  They  have  found  out 
the  way  of  putting  down  all  opposition,  or,  at  least, 
of  rendering  all  opposition  quite  inefficient;  and 
therefore  to  them,  and  to  them  alone,  the  nation  is 
to  look  for  responsibility  for  whatever  mischiefs  ex- 


304  PAPER  ApAINST  GOLD. 

ist,  or  are  likely  to  exist.  If,  indeed,  all  be  well ;  if 
there  be  nothing  to  complain  of;  if  the  nation  be  in 
no  danger ;  if  there  be  no  evil ;  then,  they  have  no- 
thing to  be  blamed  for ;  but,  if  there  be  any  thing 
in  our  situation,  the  existence  of  which  we  have 
cause  to  lament,  to  whom  are  we  to  look  for  respon- 
sibility but  to  theml 

But,  to  take  another  view  of  the  matter,  what,  let 
me  ask,  has  Napoleon  done  against  our  commerce 
and  our  currency,  for  which  he  will  not  easily  find 
a  justification  in  our  example?  Have  we  neglected 
any  means  in  our  power  to  injure  the  commerce  and 
the  finances  of  France  ?  Did  not  Pitt,  from  the  very 
outset  of  the  war  against  the  French  Jacobins  and 
Levellers,  call  it  a  war  of  finance  ?  And,  were 
not  all  our  efforts  bent  down  towards  the  beating  of 
France  through  her  finances  ?  This  is  notoriously 
the  fact ;  and,  as  to  her  commerce,  it  must  be  well 
known  to  every  one,  that  we  risked  a  war  with  the 
American  States,  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting 
provisions  in  their  way  to  the  people  of  France, 
when  they  were  menaced  with  famine.  Was  this 
fair  and  honourable  warfare  ?  I  shall  be  told  that  it 
was.  I  will  not  discuss  the  point.  But,  if  it  was 
so,  what  reason  have  we  to  complain  now,  when 
France  prevents  us,  not  from  receiving'  corn  from 
her  dominions,  but  merely  from  sending-  our  pro- 
ducts to  those  dominions.  This  is  the  utmost  that 
Napoleon  does,  or  that  he  can  do  ;  and  I  put  it,  then, 
to  any  reasonable  man,  whether  we  have  real  cause 
of  complaint.  We  may  be  sorry  for  what  Napoleon 
is  doing ;  and  we  must  be  sorry  for  the  individuals 
who  suffer  from  his  measures  ;  but  can  we  complain 
of  him  for  not  receiving  our  goods  now,  when  we 
recollect,  that  we  would  not  suffer  the  people  of 
France  to  receive  flour  from  America  when  we< 
thought  them  in  the  midst  of  famine,  and  when  we 
further  recollect,  that  we  openly  avowed  the  wish 
and  the  endeavour  to  prevent  their  receiving  Jesuit** 


1 


I 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  305 

Bark,  a  drug  so  necessary,  in  many  cases,  to  the 
preservation  of  life  ?  This  was  fair  in  us,  I  shall 
be  told.  Very  well.  That  I  am  not  questioning; 
"but,  if  this  was  fair ;  if  a  state  of  war  tolerated  this, 
have  we,  I  ask  again,  any  reason  to  complain  of 
him ;  any  reason  to  call  him  tyrant,  (as  GEORGE 
ROSE  did,)  because  he  will  not  now  permit  any  part 
of  his  people  to  receive  goods  which  are  our  produce 
or  our  property. 

Oh,  no !  We  must  expect  that  the  people  of  France 
have  the  same  sort  of  feelings  that  we  have  ;  and, 
Gentlemen,  mark  it  well,  I  pray  you,  we  intercepted 
the  flour  on  its  way  to  France  long  before  Napoleon's 
name  was  known  to  us.  We,  or,  at  least,  our  venal 
writers,  now  affect  a  vast  deal  of  compassion  for  the 
people  of  France.  These  writers  appear  to  lament 
that  the  French  people  are  subjected  to  so  terrible  a 
despotism.  But,  either  the  people  of  France  hear 
what  our  writers  say,  or  they  do  not :  if  they  do  not 
hear  it,  then  it  cannot  possibly  produce  any  effect 
upon  them ;  and,  if  they  do  hear  it,  they  cannot  fail 
to  call  to  mind,  that  we  have  been  at  war  against 
them  through  all  their  forms  of  government  /  and, 
that  while  they  were  under  a  republican  form,  or 
name,  our  hostility  was  much  more  decided  and  bit- 
ter than  at  this  moment ;  for,  we  then  declared  war 
against  the  principles  of  their  constitution  ;  we  de- 
clared that  no  relations  of  peace  were  to  be  main- 
tained with  them  ;  and,  now  that  they  are  under  a 
monarchy,  (for  that  means  a  government  by  the  will 
of  one  person,)  we  affect  to  feel  a  great  deal  of  pity 
for  them ;  we  sigh  to  see  them  free ;  and  call  upon 
them,  as  loudly  as  our  venal  writers  can,  to  rise 
against  their  tyrant.  Had  we  begun  war  with  them 
only  when  their  revolution  had  worked  itself  into  a 
monarchy,  then,  indeed,  our  appeals  to  them  against 
their  ruler  might  have  been  of  some  avail ;  but,  how 
is  it  possible  for  them  to  believe,  that  we  are  now 
desirous  of  seeing  them  free,  when  they  recollect 
26* 


306  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

our  conduct  at  the  outset  of  the  war,  and  for  many 
years  during  its  continuance  ?  Ail  our  appeals, 
therefore,  from.  Napoleon  to  the  people  of  France 
are  absurd,  and  only  bespeak  the  desperateness  of 
our  situation. 

To  return  more  closely  to  our  subject ;  it  appears 
from  the  report  of  the  Bullion  Debate,  that  LORD 
CASTLEREAGH  said,  that  the  tyrant  of  the  Continent 
had,  thus  far,  been  defeated  in  all  his  attempts 
against  us ;  that  he  at  first  attempted  invasion,  that 
he  next  endeavoured  to  excite  rebellion,  that  he  then 
assailed  our  commerce;  and,  that  having  failed  in 
all  these,  he  was  now  endeavouring  to  ruin  our  cur- 
rency. 

Now,  how  far  this  statement  was  true,  I  shall  not 
pretend  to  say  ;  and,  indeed,  except  as  to  the  last 
point,  it  is  beside  my  purpose  to  make  any  remark 
upon  what  is  reported  to  have  been  said  by  this 
Lord.  That  that  part  of  the  statement  is  true,  there 
can,  however,  be  little  doubt ;  for  it  has  been  stated 
in  the  public  prints,  that  there  have  been  great  quan- 
tities of  forged  notes,  purporting  to  be  notes  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  sent  into  this  country  from 
France  and  Holland,  This  interesting  fact  has 
been  very  carefully  kept  out  of  the  London  daily 
papers  ;  but  the  country  papers  have  been  less  cau- 
tious, owing,  I  suppose,  to  their  being  at  too  great  a 
distance  from  good  advice  and  powerful  argu- 
ments. The  following  article,  which  I  take  from 
the  OXFORD  MERCURY  of  the  4th  instant,  will  be 
quite  sufficient  to  explain  the  nature  of  what  is  go- 
ing on  in  Kent.  "  We  are  sorry  to  learn  that  a  vast 
number  of  forged  notes,  purporting  to  be  those  of 
the  Bank  of  England,  are  in  circulation,  particu- 
larly on  this  coast,  to  an  alarming  extent ;  we  have 
heard  to  the  amount  of  200,000/.  having  been  re-  ' 
cently  imported  into  this  country  from  France  and 
Holland,  where  it  is  said  they  are  manufactured  ! 
We  know  not  to  what  extent  the  evil  may  extend. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  307 

Several  5/.,  10/.,  and  even  20Z.  of  those  notes  have 
already  been  detected ;  and  numerous  I/.,  of  the 
same  description}  are  in  circulation  ;  indeed,  at  Folk- 
stone,  and  some  other  places,  the  notes  of  the  Bank 
of  England  are  almost  generally  refused  in  payment 
from  this  circumstance;  and  we  hope  some  steps 
will  be  immediately  adopted  to  put  a  stop  to  them. 
Two  5/.  were  recently  passed  through  the  Dover 
Union  Bank  ;  and  a  201.  note  was  remitted  to  town 
by  a  respectable  tradesman  in  Dover,  a  few  days 
since,  which  proved  to  be  a  forgery.  We  should 
recommend  every  person  to  keep  the  number  of  the 
notes  which  pass  through  their  hands,  or  have  them 
previously  endorsed  by  the  person  who  passes  them  ; 
we  look  upon  this  to  be  a  very  necessary  precaution, 
as  it  is  a  matter  of  the  most  serious  consequence  to 
tradespeople  in  general ;  for  if  the  Bank  of  England 
notes  can  be  so  readily  imitated,  how  easy  must  it 
be  to  forge  the  Provincial  notes  of  this  and  other 
counties." 

This  is  a  war  of  finance  with  a  vengeance !  But 
even  this  I  am  not  disposed  to  call  an  unfair  and 
dishonourable  species  of  warfare.  I  am  not  disposed 
to  call  this  a  cheating,  swindling,  base,  and  coward- 
ly mode  of  attacking  a  nation  ;  indeed,  I  should  not 
dare  to  call  it  so,  if  I  were  disposed  to  it,  seeing  that 
we  did  the  same  towards  the  French  when  they  had 
a  paper-money.  It  is  well  known  to  us,  but  it 
ought  also  to  be  known  to  our  children,  (some  of 
whom  will,  I  dare  say,  read  these  Letters ;)  that,  in 
the  year  1791,  the  French  people  made  a  revolution 
in  their  government ;  that  they  chose  representatives 
to  frame  a  new  constitution  for  them;  that  they 
changed  their  absolute  monarchy,  or  despotism,  into 
a  limited  monarchy ;  that  they  declared  freedom  to 
De  their  birthright ;  that  the  nobility,  not  pleased 
with  the  change,  left  the  country  ;  that  the  princes 
of  the  blood  did  the  same  ;  that  the  fugitives  met 
with  protection  and  encouragement  from  foreign 


308  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Governments ;  that  these  Governments  afterwards 
made  war  against  the  French  ;  that  England  joined 
in  that  war  ;  that,  some  time  after  this  war  began, 
the  French  put  their  King  and  Q,ueen  to  death,  and 
declared  their  country  a  republic ;  that  the  French 
had,  at  that  time,  a  paper-money,  called  Assignats  ; 
that  upon  this  paper-money,  it  was  thought,  depended 
the  fate  of  the  French  revolution;  that,  from  the 
speeches  in  the  English  Parliament,  it  will  clearly 
appear  that  the  Government  of  England  looked  upon 
the  debasement  of  those  Assignats  as  the  sure  means 
of  subverting  the  new  order  of  things  in  France. 
All  this  should  be  known  to  our  children  as  well  as 
to  ourselves ;  and,  when  they  have  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  these  facts,  they  should  be  told,  that  false 
Assignats,  that  forged  Assignats^  that  counterfeit 
French  paper-money  ;  that  these  things  were  fabri- 
cated in  England  in  quantities  immense.  They 
were  intended,  of  course,  to  be  sent  into  France, 
there  to  undermine  the  French  finances,  and  to  pro- 
duce the  overthrow  of  the  Republican  government. 
The  former  of  these  objects  they  did  effect ;  or,  at 
least,  assisted  to  effect ;  and  they,  in  all  probability, 
contributed  towards  those  causes,  which  finally  led 
to  the  re-election  of  the  absolute  monarchy,  in  the 
person  of  Napoleon. 

I  was  always,  after  hearing  of  these  forged  As- 
signats, very  desirous  of  seeing  one  of  them ;  and, 
some  time  ago,  a  gentleman  gave  me  nine  or  ten, 
which,  with  many  others,  were  given  to  him  at  the 
time  that  the  fabrication  was  going  on.  He  gave 
me  an  Assignat  for  90  Livres,  one  for  50  Livres,  one 
for  10  Livres,  and  several  for  5  Livres.  We  cannot 
have  this  fact  too  strongly  imprinted  upon  our  minds, 
and  cannot  make  the  impression  too  strong  upon 
those  of  our  children.  It  is  a  great  point,  not  only 
in  the  history  of  paper-money,  but  also  in  the  politi- 
cal history  of  the  world.  I  will,  therefore,  give 
here,  as  nearly  as  I  can,  a  copy  of  one  of  these 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 


309 


irged  As  signals,  but  not  of  so  large  a  size  as  the 
original,  from  which  I  take  it. 


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The  translation  of  this  is :  "  Assignat  of  5  Li- 

vres,  created  1  Nov.  1794. National  domains. • 

Assignat  of  Five  Livres,  payable  to  the  bearer  by 
the  Extraordinary  Chest."  And  the  word  "  COR- 
SET" was  the  name  of  the  Cashier,  I  suppose,  who 
signed  the  Assignats  in  France. 

Such  were  the  means,  which  we  made  use  of  to- 
wards the  French  nation  ;  and,  therefore,  I  trust, 
we  shall  not  now  hear  of  any  complaints  against 


310  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

them  for  their  endeavouring  to  send  us  an  ample 
supply  of  Bank  notes.  u  Sauce  for  the  goose  is 
sauce  for  the  gander,"  all  the  world  over. 

But,  was  this ;  do  I  know  that  this  was,  the  work 
of  Government  ?  That  it  was  actually  done  by  the 
order  of  "  the  great  statesman,  now  no  more,"  and 
paid  for  out  of  the  people's  taxes  ?  It  was  not  a 
trifling  sum  that  these  Assignats  cost  in  the  forging. 
They  were  wrought  with  great  care  in  France. 
There  was  a  very  ingeniously  contrived  dry  stamp 
upon  them.  The  engraving  was  of  most  exquisite 
workmanship.  To  have  effected  the  imitation,  the 
most  ingenious  artists  in  England  must  have  used 
their  talents.  But,  how  do  I  know,  that  this  forging 
work  was  carried  on  under  the  authority  of  the  Go- 
vernment ?  Suppose  it  was  not  ?  What  do  we,  the 
nation,  get  by  that  in  the  argument  ?  If  it  was  not 
the  Government  who  ordered  the  thing  to  be  done, 
it  was  the  people  of  England  who  did  it  them- 
selves ;  and,  therefore,  they  have,  in  that  case,  still 
less  reason,  if  possible,  to  complain  of  the  French 
for  sending  over  forged  Bank  Notes  to  England  at 
this  time. 

Whether,  however,  it  was,  or  was  not,  the  act  of 
the  English  minister  and  Government,  you,  gentle- 
men, shall  now  have  a  fair  opportunity  of  judging 
for  yourselves.  I  could  here  relate  to  you  what  I 
have  heard  many  persons  say  upon  this  subject;  I 
could  state  to  you  names  and  transactions  upon 
what  I  deem,  and  upon  what  you  would,  I  dare  say, 
deem  very  good  authority  ;  but,  as  to  matters  of  this 
sort,  I  always  love  to  deal  in  undeniable  evidence , 
proof  positive ;  facts  that  leave  no  room  for  shuffle 
So  I  shall  do  here. 

It  happened,  some  time  after  this  forging  work  had 
been  going  on,  that  there  was  a  law-suit  between* 
two  of  the  parties  engaged  in  it.  Law-suits  are  apt 
to  lead  to  exposures.  So  it  happened  now,  as  you 
will  see  by  the  following  Report,  which  I  copy, 
word  for  word,  from  the  Law-Books,  which  are 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  311 

daily  cited  as  authorities  in  all  our  courts  of  justice. 
"  STRONGPTH'ARM  against  LUKYN.  Case 
on  a  Promissory  Note.  The  Note  was  drawn  by 
the  Defendant,  payable  to  one  Caslon,  and,  by  Cas- 
lon  endorsed  to  the  Plaintiff.  The  Plaintiff  proved 
the  Defendant's  hand-writing,  and  the  indorsement 
by  Caslon.  ERSKINE,  for  the  Defendant,  stated 
his  defence  to  be,  that  Lukyn  was  a  Stationer,  and 
the  Plaintiff  an  Engraver;  and  that  the  Note,  upon 
which  the  Action  was  brought,  was  given  to  Cas- 
lon, for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  Plaintiff  for  the 
engraving  of  Copper  plates,  upon  which  FRENCH 
ASSIGNATS  were  to  be  FORGED;  and  con- 
tended, that  as  the  consideration  of  the  Note  was 
fraud,  that  it  contaminated  the  whole  transaction, 
and  rendered  the  Note  not  recoverable  by  law. — 
Calson,  the  endorser,  was  called  as  the  witness.  He 
proved  that  Lukyn,  the  Defendant,  having  it  in  con- 
templation to  strike  off  impressions  of  a  considerable 
quantity  of  Assignats,  to  be  issued  abroad,  had  ap- 
plied to  him  for  the  purpose  of  recommending  an 
engraver  for  the  purpose  of  engraving  the  necessary 
plates ;  and  that  Lukyn  represented  to  him  that 
they  were  for  the  Duke  of  York's  army.  He  said, 
that  he  applied  to  Strongi'th'arm,  the  Plaintiff,  who, 
at  first,  declined  the  business  totally  ;  but  that,  being 
assured  by  the  witness  that  it  was  sanctioned  by 
Government,  and  was  for  .the  use  of  the  Duke  of 
York's  army,  he  then  consented.  The  witness  fur- 
ther denied  that  it  was  ever  communicated  to  the 
Plaintiff  that  they  were  to  be  cirrulated  for  any 
other  purpose  than  as  he  had  represented.  LORD 
KENYON  said,  that  if  the  present  transaction  was 
grounded  on  a  fraud,  or  contrary  to  the  laws  of  na- 
tions, or  of  good  faith,  he  should  have  held  the  Notes 
to  be  void ;  but  that  it  did  not  appear  that  there  was 
any  fraud  in  the  case,  or  any  violation  of  positive 
law.  Whether  the  issuing  of  these  Assignats,  for 
the  purpose  of  distressing  the  enemy,  was  lawful 
in  carrying  on  the  war,  he  was  not  prepared  to  say , 


312  PAPER  AGAIN3T  GOLD. 

or  whether  it  came  within  the  rule  an  dolus  an 
virtus  quis  in  hoste  requisit  ?  But  let  that  be  as  it 
might,  it  did  not  apply  to  the  present  case.  It  was 
not  in  evidence,  that  the  Plaintiff  was  a  party  in 
any  fraud,  or  that  it  was  ever  communicated  to  him 
that  the  Assignats  were  to  be  used  for  any  improper 
purpose :  on  the  contrary,  he  supposed  that  they 
were  circulated  by  the  authority  of  the  higher  pow- 
ers of  this  country  ;  and,  therefore,  did  not  ques- 
tion the  propriety  or  legality  of  the  'measure. — His 
Lordship  declared  his  opinion,  therefore,  to  be,  that 
the  consideration  was  not  impeached,  and  that  the 
Plaintiff  was  entitled  to  recover.  The  jury  found  a 
verdict  for  the  Plaintiff. — MINGAY  and  MARRYAT, 
for  the  Plaintiff. — ERSKINE,  and  LAW,  for  the  De- 
fendant.*— Having  read  this  document,  gentlemen, 
you  will  want  nothing  from  me  to  enable  you  to  de- 
cide who  it  was  that  caused  the  Assignats  to  be 
forged  ;  nor  will  you  want  any  one  to  assist  you  in 
forming  a  correct  opinion  as  to  the  conduct  of  either 
the  Plaintiff,  the  Defendant,  or  the  Judge.  The 
thing  is  before  you ;  and  it  speaks  for  itself  much 
too  plainly  to  be  misunderstood. 

Well,  now,  after  this ;  with  this  before  our  eyes ; 
knowing  that  the  world  is  well  acquainted  with  this 
fact,  is  it  not  a  little  too  impudent  in  us  to  pretend 
to  find  fault  with  the  French  for  supplying  our  coast 
with  Bank  Notes?  I  do  not  know  any  thing  that  is 
more  disgusting  than  this  species  of  injustice,  which 
proceeds  from  self-conceit.  It  is  the  worst  kind  of 
insolence  ;  and  whoever  has  paid  attention  to  its  ef- 
fects, must  have  perceived,  that  it  never  fails  to  ex- 
cite contempt  in  men  of  sense.  What,  I  should  be 
glad  to  know,  is  there  in  us  that  we  should  be  justi- 
fied in  forging  French  paper-money  any  more  than 
the  French  should  be  justified  in  forging  English 
paper-money  ?  Upon  what  ground  is  it  that  we 
claim  the  exclusive  right  of  forging  the  paper  money 
of  our  neighbours  ? 

t  See  Espinasse's  Reports,  Mich.  Term,  36  Geo.  III.  1795. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  313 

After  what  we  have  seen  above,  you  will,  I  am 
persuaded,  agree  with  me,  that  it  is  childish  in  the 
extreme,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  for  us  to  complain  of 
the  Emperor  of  France  for  having,  as  LORD  CASTLE- 
REAGH  said,  set  about  a  scheme  for  the  ruin  of  our 
currency.  And,  it  is  equally  childish  in  us  to  sup- 
pose, that  he  will  not  now,  when  we  have  proclaimed 
the  effects,  persevere  in  his  hostility  to  our  commerce. 
He  is  now  told,  by  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, that  it  is  his  system,  which  has  produced  all 
our  pecuniary  distress.  We  now  say  that  it  is  he 
who  has  filled  the  Gazette  with  the  names  of  Bank- 
rupts ;  which  has  made  one  of  the  two  "  pillars  of 
the  Stock  Exchange"  blow  his  brains  out ;  which 
has  raised  the  paper  price  of  the  Dollar  ten  per  cen- 
tum at  a  slap ;  and  which  now  makes  the  fund- 
holder  tremble.  He  is  now  told  this  by  our  Minis- 
ter of  finance  ;  aye,  and  by  the  vote  of  a  majority, 
and  a  very  great  majority,  too,  of  the  Honourable 
House,  upon  whose  Journals  it  now  stands  declared 
and  recorded,  that  the  commercial  system  of  Napo- 
leon has  produced  the  very  effects  that  he  intended, 
and  that  he  vowed,  it  should  produce.  And,  yet, 
there  are  men  amongst  us  to  call  Napoleon  a  mad- 
man ! 

I  have  taken  up  too  much  of  your  time  to  enter 
now  upon  the  subject  of  Depreciation,  which, 
therefore,  I  must  postpone  till  my  next,  begging  you, 
with  reference  to  the  above  related  facts,  always  to 
bear  in  mind,  that,  at  the  outset  of  our  war  against 
the  Jacobins  of  France,  we  had  plenty  of  gold  and 
the  French  had  nothing  but  paper,  and  that  now  the 
French  have  plenty  of  gold,  and  we  have  nothing 
but  paper. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 
Your  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

Stale  Prison,  Newgate, 

Friday,  May  17th,  1811. 
27 


314  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

LETTER  XXV. 


*'  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  death,  and  nothing  more  uncertain  than  the 
time  of  dying  ;  yet  we  can  always  fix  a  period  beyond  which  man  can- 
not live,  and  within  some  moment  of  which  he  will  die.  We  are  enabled 
to  do  this,  not  by  nny  spirit  of  prophecy,  but  by  observation  of  what  has 
happened  in  all  cases!  of  human  or  animal  existence.  If,  then,  any  other 
subje  t,  siu;h  for  instance,  as  a  system  of  finance,  exhibits,  in  its  progress, 
a  series  of  symptoms  indicating  decay,  its  final  dissolution  is  certain,  and 
from  those  symptoms  we  may  calculate  the  period  of  that  dissolution." 
—Paine.  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  British  System  of  Finance,  published 
in  1795. 

The  subject  of  Depreciation  discussed— Lord  Stanhope's  Bill 

— Lord  King's  Notice  to  his  Tenants. 
T 
GENTLEMEN, 

THE  foregoing  Letter  we  began  with  proposing  to 
discuss  the  question  of  depreciation,  but  were  stop- 
ped by  the  desire  of  showing  how  childish,  and,  in- 
deed, how  unjust  it  was  in  our  Government  to  com- 
plain of  the  endeavours  said  to  be  used  by  the  French 
for  destroying  our  paper-money,  seeing  the  endea- 
vours which  were  used  here  to  destroy  the  Assignats 
in  France.  We  will  now  resume  the  subject  of  de- 
preciation, and  see  whether  the  paper-money  of 
England  be,  or  be  not,  actually  depreciated;  and, 
if  we  find  that  it  is,  we  will  inquire  whether  it  can 
be  restored  to  its  former  value  by  any  of  the  means, 
called  remedies,  that  have  been  pointed  out  by  any 
of  those  who  are  our  rulers,  or  lawgivers. 

To  depreciate  means  to  lower  in  value  ;  and  the 
word  depreciation  is  used  to  signify  that  state  in 
which  any  thing  is,  when  it  is  lowered,  or  has  fal- 
~ttn,  from  its  former  value.  Hence  the  term  depreci- 
ation, as  applied  to  Bank  Notes ;  and,  when  we  thus 
apply  it,  accompanied  with  the  affirmative  of  the 
proposition,  we  say,  that  Bank  Notes  have  fallen  in 
value,  and,  of  course,  that  any  given  sum  in  such 
notes  is  not  worth  so  much  as  it  formerly  was. 

Much  puzzling  has,  upon  this  subject,  arisen  from 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  315 

a  very  natural  cause  ;  namely,  that  the  note  always 
retains  its  nominal  value ;  that  is  to  say,  always  goes 
by  the  same  name  ;  a  pound  note  still  is  called  a 
pound  note,  whether  it  be  worth  as  much  as  it  for- 
merly was,  or  not.  But,  to  this  point  we  shall  come 
more  fully  by-and-by,  after  we  have  spoken  of  the 
way  in  which  a  depreciation  of  money,  or  the  lower- 
ing of  the  value  of  money,  takes  place. 

Money,  of  whatever  sort,  is,  like  every  thing  else, 
lowered  in  its  value  in  proportion  as  it  becomes 
abundant  or  plenty.  As  I  said  upon  a  former  occa- 
sion, when  apples  are  plenty  apples  are  cheap  ;  and 
cheap  means  low  in  price.  The  use  of  money  is  to 
serve  men  as  a  sign  of  the  amount  of  the  value  of 
things  that  pass  from  man  to  man  in  the  way  of 
purchase  and  sale.  It  is  plenty  or  scarce,  in  propor- 
tion as  its  quantity  is  great  or  small,  compared  with 
the  quantity  of  things  purchased  and  sold  in  the 
community  ;  and,  whenever  it  becomes,  from  any 
cause,  plenty,  it  depreciates,  or  sinks  in  value. 
Suppose,  for  instance,  that  there  is  a  community  of 
ten  men,  who  make  amongst  them  100  purchases  in 
a  year,  each  purchase  amounting  to  1  pound.  The 
community,  in  that  case,  would  possess,  we  will 
suppose,  10  pounds,  and  no  more,  because  the  same 
money  might,  and  naturally  would,  go  backwards 
and  forwards,  and  because,  except  under  peculiar 
circumstances,  men  do  not  hoard.  Now,  suppose 
that  the  money  in  possession  of  this  community  is 
doubled  in  quantity,  without  any  other  alteration 
taking  place,  the  quantity  of  goods  and  chatties  and 
the  quantity  of  things,  including  services,  purchased, 
and  the  number  of  purchases  all  continuing  the 
same.  Suppose  this;  and,  we  are  here  speaking  of 
money  of  any  sort.  No  matter  what  sort.  Sup- 
pose it  to  be  gold,  and  that  its  quantity  is  thus  dou- 
bled. The  consequence  would  be,  of  course,  that 
at  each  of  the  hundred  purchases,  double  the  sum 
would  be  given  that  was  given  before  ;  because, 
if  this  were  not  the  case,  part  of  the  money  must 


316  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

be  kept  idle,  which,  upon  a  general  scale,  can  never 
be,  there  being  no  motive  for  it.  Suppose  that  one 
of  the  hundred  purchases  wa.s  that  of  a  horse.  The 
purchase,  which  was  made  with  1  pound  before  the 
doubling  of  the  quantity  of  money,  would  require 
2  pounds  after  that  doubling  took  place  ;  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  ;  and,  in  such  a  state  of  things 
people  would  say,  that  prices  had  risen,  that  com- 
modities had  doubled  in  price,  that  every  thing  was 
twice  as  dear  as  it  used  to  be.  But,  the  fact  would 
be,  that  money  was  become  plenty,  and,  like  every 
thing  else,  cheap  in  proportion  to  its  abundance.  It 
would  be,  that  money  had  fallen  or  had  been  de- 
preciated, and  not  that  things  had  risen;  the  loaf, 
for  instance,  having  a  real  value  in  its  utility  in 
supporting  man,  and  the  money  having  only  an  ima- 
ginary value. 

Prices  in  England  have  been  rising,  as  it  is  com- 
monly called,  for  hundreds  of  years ;  things  have 
been  getting  dearer  and  dearer.  The  cause  of 
which,  until  the  Bank  Note  system  began,  was  the 
increase  of  gold  and  silver  in  Europe,  in  consequence 
of  the  discovery  of  South  America  and  the  subse- 
quent working  of  the  mines.  But  the  increase  of 
the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  was  slow.  "  Na- 
ture," as  PAINE  observes,  "  gives  those  materials  out 
with  a  sparing  hand;"  they  came,  as  they  still  come, 
in  regular  annual  quantities  from  the  mines  ;  and 
that  portion  of  them  which  found  its  way  to  this 
country  was  obtained  by  the  sale  of  things  of  real 
value,  being  the  product  of  our  soil  or  of  our  labour. 
Therefore,  the  quantity  of  money  increased  very 
slowly  ;  it  did  increase,  and  prices  gradually  rose, 
but  the  increase  and  the  rise  were  so  slow  as  not  to 
be  strikingly  perceptible.  During  the  average  life  of 
man,  the  rise  in  prices  was  so  small  as  hardly  to»at- 
tract  any  thing  like  general  attention.  Curious  men 
observed  it,  and  some  of  them  recorded  the  progress 
of  prices ;  but,  as  there  was  no  sensible  difference 
in  prices  in  the  average  life  of  man,  the  rise  never 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  317 

became  an  object  of  general  interest,  as  long  as  gold 
and  silver  were  the  only  currency  of  the  country. 

But,  when  the  funding  system  began,  and  paper 
became,  in  many  cases,  a  substitute  for  gold  and 
silver  ;  when  the  increase  of  the  quantity  of  money 
in  the  country  was  no  longer  dependent  upon  the 
mines  ;  when  the  check  which  nature  had  provided 
was  removed  ;  then  money,  or  its  substitute,  paper, 
increased  at  a  rate  much  greater  than  before,  and 
prices  took  a  proportionate  rise,  as  they  naturally 
would.  The  nature  of  the  FUNDING  SYSTEM  has 
been  fully  explained  before  ;  we  have  also  seen  how 
it  would  naturally  cause  the  paper-money  to  go  on 
increasing.  We  have  seen,  that  the  Government, 
as  soon  as  it  began  to  make  loans,  was  compelled  to 
establish  a  Bank,  or  a  something,  in  order  to  get  the 
means  of  paying  the  interest  upon  the  loans.  The 
amount  of  the  loans  would  naturally  go  on  increas- 
ing in  order  to  meet  the  rise  in  prices,  and  thus  the 
increase  of  the  paper  would  continue  causing  rise  af- 
ter rise  in  the  prices,  and  the  rise  in  the  prices  would 
continue  causing  addition  upon  addition  to  the  quan- 
tity of  the  paper.  This  was  the  natural  progress, 
and  it  was  that  which  actually  took  place. 

Still,  however,  the  paper  passed  in  company  with 
the  gold  and  silver.  Money  was  more  plenty;  it 
was  of  less  value;  and,  of  course,  any  given  quan- 
tity of  it  would  purchase  less  bread,  for  instance, 
than  formerly  ;  but,  still  there  was  no  difference  in 
the  quality  of  the  two  sorts  of  money  j  metal  and 
aper  both  not  only  passed  at  the  sums  that  they 
ad  usually  passed  at,  but  people  liked  the  one  just 
as  well  as  the  other  ;  and  it  was  a  matter  of  perfect 
indifference  to  any  man,  whether  he  took  a  hundred 
guineas  in  gold,  or  one  hundred  and  five  pounds  in 
paper.  And,  the  reason  of  this  indifference  was,  that 
the  holder  of  a  bank  note  could,  at  any  moment,  go 
to  the  Bank,  and  there  demand  and  receive  payment 
in  guineas.  This  was  the  reason  why  the  paper 
passed  in  society  with  the  gold.  But.  it  was  impos- 
27* 


p 
h 


318  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

sible  that  this  society  should  long  continue  after  the 
paper  increased  to  a  very  great  amount,  and  especi- 
ally after  the  notes  became  so  low  in  nominal  value 
as  five  pounds  ;  for  then  it  was  evident,  that  all  the 
taxes  would  be  paid  in  paper ;  that  the  Government 
would  receive  nothing  but  paper;  that  the  Bank  could 
get  nothing  but  paper  from  the  Government ;  that 
whatever  gold  went  out  of  the  Bank  would  never 
return  to  it ;  and,  of  course,  that  the  Bank  would, 
in  a  short  time,  be  unable  to  pay  its  notes  in  gold,  it 
called  on  for  that  purpose  to  any  great  extent. 

A  call  of  this  sort  was  made  upon  it  in  1797 ; 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  and  now  feel,  the  Bank  was 
unable  to  pay.  Its  creditors,  that  is  to  say,  the  hold- 
ers of  its  notes,  demanded  their  money  ;  the  Bank 
flew  to  the  Minister  Pitt  for  protection ;  the  Minis- 
ter, by  an  Order  of  Council,  authorized  the  Bank  to 
refuse  to  pay  its  creditors ;  the  Bank  did  refuse ;  the 
Parliament  passed  an  Act  to  shelter  the  Minister  and 
the  Bank  Directors  and  all  whc  had  been  guilty  of 
this  violation  of  law,  and,  at  the  same  time  enacted, 
that,  for  the  future,  the  Bank  should  not  be  compel- 
lable  to  pay  its  notes  in  gold  or  silver.  After  this 
memorable  transaction,  the  full  and  true  history  of 
which  I  have  recorded  in  the  foregoing  Letters ;  af 
ter  this,  the  whole  concern  assumed  a  new  face  and 
indeed  a  new  nature.  The  holder  of  a  bank  note 
could  no  longer  go  and  demand  payment  of  it  in 
guineas :  it  was  impossible,  therefore,  that  he  should 
look  upon  105Z.  in  notes  as  quite  equal  in  value  to 
100  guineas.  Still,  however,  in  consequence  of  the 
meetings  and  combinations  of  the  rich,  and  of  the 
enormous  influence  of  the  Government,  to  which 
may  be  added  the  dread  in  every  man  of  being 
marked  out  as  a  Jacobin  and  Leveller ;  in  conse- 
quence of  all  these,  and  of  the  necessity  of  having 
something  to  serve  as  money,  the  notes  continued  to 
circulate  ;  and,  as  the  alarm  subsided,  the  guinea 
returned  and  circulated  in  company  with  them ;  but 
not  with  that  cordialitv  that  it  used  to  do.  It  be. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  319 

came  much  less  frequent  in  its  appearance  in  com- 
pany with  the  notes  ;  it  held  itself  aloof ;  seemed  to 
demand  a  preference  ;  but  not  appearing  to  like  to 
assume  this  superiority  over  an  old  and  familiar  as- 
sociate, and  yet  unwilling  to  pass  for  so  much  less 
than  its  worth,  it  soon  began  to  keep  away  alto- 
gether, retiring  to  the  chests  of  the  hoarders,  or  go- 
ing upon  its  travels  into  foreign  parts,  until  such 
time  as  it  found  itself  duly  estimated  in  England, 
which  would  naturally  be  when  people  began  to 
make  openly  a  distinction  between  paper  and  coin. 

That  time  arrived  about  two  years  ago ;  but,  no 
sooner  was  the  distinction  thus  made,  and  acted  upon, 
than  the  Government  began  to  prosecute  the  actors, 
and  commenced,  I  believe,  in  the  well  known  case 
of  DE  YONGE,  who,  under  laws  passed  about  two 
hundred  years  before  such  things  as  bank  notes  were 
ever  heard  of,  was  convicted,  about  a  year  ago,  of 
the  crime  of  exchanging  guineas  for  more  than  their 
nominal  value  in  bank  notes.  DE  YONGE  moved  for 
an  arrest  of  judgment ;  the  case  has  been  since  ar- 
gued before  the  judges;  and  their  decision  thereon, 
has  recently  been  promulgated.  Other  persons  have 
been  prosecuted  in  the  same  way  and  upon  the  same 
ground,  the  effect  of  which  naturally  has  been  tc  deter 
people  from  openly  purchasing  and  selling  guineas,and 
also  from  tendering  them  generally  in  payment  for 
more  than  their  nominal  value  in  paper.  But,  it  is  very 
notorious  that  the  distinction  is.  nevertheless,  made, 
and  that,  in  payments,  men  do  take  gold  at  its  worth 
in  comparison  with  the  paper.  Two  prices  are  not 
yet  openly  and  generally  made ;  but,  they  exist 
partially,  and  the  extent  of  them  is  daily  increasing. 

To  this  point,  then,  we  are  now  arrived,  and  here 
we  see  proof,  not  of  a  depreciation  of  money  of  all 
sorts,  arising  merely  from  that  general  plenty  of 
money  spoken  of  above ;  but  arising  from  the  abun- 
dance, or  plenty,  of  paper,  that  is  to  say,  the  great 
quantity  of  the  paper  compared  with  that  of  the  coin. 
Hence  we  say,  that  the  bank  notes  have  depreciated, 


320  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

or  fallen  in  value ;  and,  that  there  should  be  found 
any  human  being  to  assert  the  contrary,  or  to  believe, 
or  to  affect  to  believe,  the  contrary,  is  something  that, 
were  not  the  fact  before  our  eyes,  no  man  could 
think  possible :  but,  we  live  in  times  when  wonder 
no  longer  seems  to  form  a  feeling  of  the  mind. 

This  state  of  things  it  was  easy  to  foresee  ;  but, 
the  nation  has  been  deluded  by  the  specious  argu- 
ment of  the  equal  powers  of  gold  and  paper  in 
purchases.  "  Go  to  market,"  we  have  been  told, 
"  and  see  whether  the  pound  note  and  a  shilling 
will  not  bring  you  as  much  meat  or  cloth  as  a  guinea" 
This  was  conclusive  with  unreflecting  minds,  and 
it  quieted,  or  assisted  to  quiet,  all  those,  who,  though 
they  were  capable  of  discerning,  dared  not  look  the 
fearful  truth  in  the  face.  I  looked  it  in  the  face  ra- 
ther more  than  eight  years  ago,  and  strenuously  la- 
boured to  prepare  my  countrymen  for  what  has  now 
come,  and  what  is  now  coming  to  pass.  Upon  one 
occasion,  this  standing  delusive  argument  was  made 
use  of  in  answer  to  me :  whereupon  I  made  the  fol- 
lowing remarks : — "  The  objection  of  my  other  corres- 
pondent has  more  plausibility.  These  are  his  words  : 
*  I  think  the  argument,  that  Bank  paper  is  depreciated, 
drawn  from  the  difference  between  the  sterling  and 
the  current  value  of  a  dollar,  if  it  prove  anything, 
proves  too  much.  That  guineas  are  depreciated  you 
will  hardly  insist,  yet  I  would  sturdily  maintain, 
from  your  premises,  that  they  are,  since  a  guinea 
will  not  purchase  so  many  dollars  as  it  formerly 
would.' — Yes,  but  I  do  insist  though,  that  guineas 
are  depreciated:  not  in  their  intrinsic  value,  but  in 
their  value  as  currency,  that  is  to  say,  in  their  power 
of  purchasing  commodities  in  this  country.  When 
there  is  a  depreciating  paper  in  any  country,  the 
current  coin  of  that  country  depreciates  in  its  powers 
along  with  the  paper,  because  it  has  a  fixed  nominal 
value,  and  it  can  pass  currently  for  no  more  than  an 
equal  nominal  value  in  paper,  until  the  paper  is  at 
an  open  discount.  The  metal  is  degraded  by  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  321 


society  of  the  paper ;  but,  there  comes  a  time  when 
it  will  bear  this  degradation  no  longer  ;  it  then  rises 
above  its  nominal  value,  or,  in  other  words,  the  paper 
is  at  a  discount." 

This  was  published  so  long  ago  as  the  14th  April, 
1804.  "  There  comes  a  time  /"  Aye,  and  that 
time  is  now  come.  But,  let  me  not  be  guilty  of  rob- 
bery, and  especially  of  the  Dead,  and  more  espe- 
cially of  one  whose  writings,  and  upon  this  very 
subject  too,  as  well  as  other  subjects,  I  formerly, 
through  ignorance,  condemned.  I  allude  to  the  wri- 
tings of  PAINE,  the  abused,  the  reprobated,  the  ana- 
thematized, TOM  PAINE.  In  his  work,  from  which 
I  have  taken  the  perspicuous  and  impressive  passage 
that  serves  me  as  a  motto  to  this  Letter,  and  the 
equal  of  which  has  seldom  dropped  from  the  pen  of 
any  man  ;  in  that  work,  PAINE  thus  exposes  the  de- 
lusive argument  of  which  I  have  just  been  speaking ; 
"  It  is^aid.  in  England,  that  the  value  of  paper  keeps 
equal  pace  with  the  value  of  gold  and  silver.  But 
the  case  is  not  rightly  stated :  for,  the  fact  is,  that 
the  paper  has  pulled  down  the  value  of  gold  and 
silver  to  its  own  level.  Gold  and  silver  will  not 
purchase  so  much  of  any  purchaseable  article  at  this 
day  (March,  1796)  as  they  would  have  purchased  if 
no  paper  had  appeared,  nor  so  much  as  they  will  in 
any  country  of  Europe,  where  there  is  no  paper. 
How  long  this  hanging  together  of  paper  and  money 
will  continue  makes  a  new  case ;  because  it  daily 
exposes  the  system  to  sudden  death,  independent  of 
the  natural  death  it  would  otherwise  suffer."  Here 
he  lays  down  the  principle ;  and,  if,  instead  of  re- 
viling his  writings,  the  Government  of  England  had 
lent  a  patient  ear  to  him,  and  taken  a  lesson  from  his 
superior  understanding  and  experience,  how  different 
would  have  been  our  situation  at  this  day.  He  pro- 
ceeds thus  ;  "  I  have  just  mentioned  that  paper  in 
England  has  pulled  down  the  value  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver to  a  level  with  itself;  and  that  this  pulling  down 
of  gold  and  silver  money  has  created  the  appearance 


322  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

of  paper  money  keeping-  up.  The  same  thing,  and 
the  same  mistake,  took  place  in  America  and  in 
France,  and  continued  for  a  considerable  time  after 
the  commencement  of  their  system  of  paper  ;  and  the 
actual  depreciation  of  money  was  hidden  under  that 
mistake.  It  was  said  in  America,  at  that  time,  that 
every  thing  was  becoming  dear  ;  but  gold  and  silver 
could  then  buy  those  articles  no  cheaper  than  paper 
could ;  and  therefore  it  was  not  called  depreciation. 
The  idea  of  dearness  established  itself  for  the  idea 
of  depreciation.  The  same  was  the  case  in  France. 
Though  every  thing  rose  in  price  soon  after  assig- 
nats  appeared,  yet  those  dear  articles  could  be  pur- 
chased no  cheaper  with  gold  and  silver,  than  with 
paper,  and  it  was  only  said  thnt  things  were  dear. 
The  same  is  still  the  language  in  England.  They 
call  it  dearness.  But  they  will  soon  find  that  it  » 
an  actual  depreciation^  and  that  this  depreciation 
is  the  effect  of  the  funding  system;  which  by  crowd- 
ing such  a  continually-increasing  mass  of  paper  into 
circulation,  carries  down  the  value  of  gold,  and 
silver  with  it.  But  gold  and  silver  will,  in  the 
long-run,  revolt  against  depreciation,  and  separate 
from  the  value  of  paper ;  for  the  progress  of  all 
such  systems  appears  to  be,  that  the  paper  will  take 
the  command  in  the  beginning,  and  gold  and  silver 
in  the  end." 

How  well  is  this  expressed,  and  how  clearly  the 
truth  of  it  is  now  verified!  Yes:  we  talk  about 
dearness;  we  talk  of  high  prices  ;  we  talk  of  things 
rising  in  value  ;  but,  the  fact  is,  that  the  change  has 
been  in  the  money,  and  not  in  the  articles  bough 
and  sold ;  the  articles  remain  the  same  in  value,  bu 
the  money,  from  its  abundance,  has  fallen  in  value. 
This  has  till  of  late  been  imperceptible  to  the  mass 
of  the  people,  who  were  convinced  of  the  non-depre- 
ciation by  the  argument  built  on  the  circumstance 
of  the  guinea  and  the  paper  being  upon  an  equal 
footing  at  market.  They  did  not  perceive,  that  the 
paper  had  pulled  down  the  gold  and  silver  along 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  323 

with  it ;  they  did  not  perceive  that  the  coin  was  sliding 
by  degrees  out  of  the  society  of  the  paper  ;  they  did 
not  perceive  that,  in  time,  the  coin  would  disappear 
altogether  ;  they  did  not  perceive  that  an  open  contest 
would,  at  last,  take  place  between  the  guineas  and 
the  paper,  and  that,  if  the  law  came  to  the  assistance 
of  the  paper,  the  coin  would  quit  the  country.  Now, 
however,  they  do  perceive  this;  the  facts  have  all 
now  been  established  in  a  way  that  seems,  at  last, 
to  have  produced  conviction  even  in  the  minds  of 
this  "  most  thinking"  people  ;  but,  there  is  reason  to 
fear,  that  this  conviction  will  have  come  too  late. 
How  happy  would  it  have  been  for  this  nation,  if  the 
opinions  of  Mr.  PAINE,  touching  this  subject,  had 
produced,  at  the  time,  their  wished- for  effect!  No 
man  in  England  dared  to  publish  his  work.  Any 
man  who  had  published  or  sold  it  would  have  been 
punished  as  a  seditious  libeller.  Yet,  in  my  opinion, 
does  that  work  ;  that  little  work,  in  the  space  of 
twenty-Jive  pages,  convey  more  useful  knowledge 
upon  this  subject,  and  discover  infinitely  greater 
depth  of  thought  and  general  powers  of  mind,  than 
are  to  be  found  in  all  the  pamphlets  of  the  thre6 
score  and  two  financiers,  who,  in  this  country,  have, 
since  I  came  into  this  jail,  favoured  the  world  with 
their  opinions  upon  the  state  of  our  money  system. 
The  writings  of  these  people  would  make  twenty- 
Jfive  thick  octavo  volumes  ;  and  in  all  of  them  there 
is  not  so  much  power  of  mind  discovered  as  in 
PAINE'S  twenty-Jive  pages.  Yet,  no  man  would 
dare  to  publish  this  little  work  in  England.  By  ac- 
cident I  possess  a  copy  that  I  brought  from  America, 
but  which  I  never  read  till  after  my  return  to  Eng- 
land. In  1803,  when  there  was  much  apprehension 
of  invasion,  and  when  great  complaints  were  made 
of  the  scarcity  of  change,  I  began  to  read  some 
books  upon  the  subject ;  and,  after  reading  several 
without  coming  to  any  thing  like  a  clear -notion  of 
the  real  state  of  our  currency,  I  took  up  the  little 
essay  of  PAINE.  Here  I  saw  to  the  bottom  at  once 


324  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

Here  was  no  bubble,  no  mud  to  obstruct  my  view : 
the  stream  was  clear  and  strong :  I  saw  the  whole 
matter  in  its  true  light,  and  neither  pamphleteers 
nor  speech-makers  were,  after  that,  able  to  raise  even 
a  momentary  puzzle  in  my  mind.  PAINE  not  only 
told  me  what  would  come  to  pass,  but  showed  me, 
gave  me  convincing  reasons,  why  it  must  come  to 
pass  ;  and  he  convinced  me  also,  that  it  was  my 
duty  to  endeavour  to  open  the  eyes  of  my  country- 
men to  the  truths  which  I  myself  had  learnt  from 
him  ;  because  his  reasoning  taught  me,  that,  the  lon- 
ger those  truths  remained  hidden  from  their  view, 
the  more  fatal  must  be  the  consequences.  The  oc- 
casion of  this  work  of  PAINE  is  worthy  of  notice. 
One  of  the  motives  of  writing  it  was,  as  he  says,  at  the 
close,  to  retaliate  upon  PITT,  who,  in  speaking  of 
the  French  Republic,  had  said,  that  she  was  "  on  the 
verge,  nay,  even  in  the  gulf  of  Bankruptcy" 
PAINE  said,  that  England  would  soon  be  in  a  worse 
situation  than  France  as  to  her  finances ;  and,  in  less 
than  twelve  months  after  he  wrote  his  work,  the 
Bank  became  unable  to  pay  its  notes  in  cash. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  depreciation,  the  fact 
has  now  been  established  in  all  sorts  of  ways. — 
Gold  coin  has  been,  and  is,  sold  at  a  premium :  a 
guinea  will  sell  for  27  shillings,  and  the  other  coins 
of  the  realm  in  the  same  proportion ;  many  persons 
in  London  have  written  upon  their  shop-windows 
notifications  that  they  will  take  the  coin  at  a  higher 
than  the  nominal  value ;  in  numerous  cases,  a  dis- 
tinction is  made  in  prices  paid  in  coin,  and  prices 
paid  in  paper.  If  these  are  not  proofs  of  an  actual 
depression  of  the  paper,  what,  I  should  be  glad  to 
know,  will  ever  be  admitted  as  proof  of  that  fact  ? 
Indeed,  there  is  no  longer  any  doubt  remaining  upon 
the  subject ;  audj  therefore,  we  will  now  proceed  to 
take  a  view  of  the  REMEDIES  that  have  been 
proposed  by  our  Rulers  and  Law-givers,  who,  if 
they  had  followed  the  advice  given  in  PAINE'S  Se 
cond  Part  of  the  "  RIGHTS  OF  MAN,"  instead  of  pro 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  325 

seeming  the  author,  would  not,  I  am  convinced, 
have  had  to  lament  the  present  state  of  our  finances. 
As  to  REMEDIES,  Gentlemen,  I,  in  the  first  of 
this  series  of  Letters,  stated  to  you,  that  the  Bullion 
Committee  had  recommended  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, to  pass  a  law  to  compel  the  Bank  to  pay  their 
notes  in  gold  and  silver  at  the  end  of  two  years. 
This  same  proposition  has  been  since  made  in  the 
House ;  but  the  House  have  resolved,  that  no  such 
measure  is  necessary.  Those  who  opposed  the 
proposition  said,  that  the  Bank  had  not  the  gold,  and 
could  not  get  it,  and  that,  therefore,  they  could  not 
pay  in  gold.  This  was  a  very  sufficient  reason : 
and,  I  must  confess,  that  I  was,  and  am,  as  far  as 
this  goes,  exactly  of  the  opinion  of  these  gentlemen. 
For,  to  what  end  pass  such  a  law,  if  the  gold  was 
not  to  be  had?  There  were  several  sensible  men, 
belonging  to  the  Bullion  Committee,  and  the  gen- 
tleman who  brought  the  measure  forward  in  the 
House,  is  looked  upon  as  a  person  of  good  under- 
standing. It,  therefore,  appeared  astonishing  to  me, 
that  they  should  propose  such  a  measure,  seeing 
that  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover  any  way 
whatever  by  which  gold  could  possibly  return  to  the 
Bank,  and  remain  there  in  quantity  sufficient  to  ena- 
ble that  Company  to  pay  their  notes  in  gold,  upon 
demand.  To  resume  payments  in  gold,  would,  in- 
deed, be  a  complete  remedy  ;  but,  to  do  this,  in  my 
opinion,  and,  for  many  years  past,  has  been  utterly 
impossible.  By  what  means  are  the  Bank  Company 
to  get  the  gold  ?  We  are  told,  that  there  is  gold 
enough,  if  the  Bank  Company  will  but  purchase  it. 
What  are  they  to  give  for  it  ?  Why,  their  paper, 
to  be  sure ;  and,  as  it  would  require  27  shillings  in 
their  paper  to  purchase  a  guinea,  this  would  be  a 
most  charming  way  of  obtaining  the  means  of  pay- 
ing off  the  paper  with  guineas.  Let  us  take  an  in- 
stance. Suppose  the  Bank  Company,  by  way  of 
preparing  for  cash  payments,  to  be  purchasing  all 
the  guineas  they  can  find,  and,  in  such  case,  thev 
28 


326  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

would,  of  course,  apply  to  our  old  friend,  Mrs.  DB 
YONGE,  to  whom,  by  the  by,  I  here  present  my  con- 
gratulations on  the  late  decision  of  the  judges,  in 
favour  of  her  husband  ;  the  Bank  Company  would, 
I  say,  naturally  apply  to  this  good  lady,  who,  it  being 
now  decided,  that  the  old  biting  law,  does  not  forbid 
the  buying  and  selling  of  bank  notes  and  guineas, 
would  drive  with  them  as  good  a  bargain  as  she 
could.  Suppose  them  to  buy  100  guineas  of  her  at 
the  present  price,  27  shillings  each,  they  would,  of 
course,  give  her  for  them  135  pounds  in  their  notes. 
And,  thus  they  must  go  on  with  other  people.  Ha- 
ving, at  last,  got  a  good  lot  of  guineas  together,  they 
begin  paying  their  notes  in  guineas.  It  is  pretty 
evident,  that  the  vast  increase  of  paper,  occasioned 
by  the  purchase  of  the  guineas,  would  have  caused  a 
new  and  great  depreciation  of  the  paper,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  moment  the  Bank  was  open  to  de- 
mands in  coin,  people  would  crowd  to  it  in  all  di- 
rections. I  can  fancy  the  eager  crowd  now  before 
me,  pressing  in  from  every  quarter  and  corner  ;  and, 
amongst  the  very  foremost  and  most  eager,  I  think  I 
see  our  friend,  Mrs.  DE  YONGE.  "  What  do  you  do 
here,  Madam,"  I  think  I  hear  a  dejected  Director 
say,  "  what  do  you  do  here,  you  who  sold  us  gui- 
neas but  the  other  day  ?"  "  Aye,  sir,"  says  the  lady, 
"  and  for  these  very  guineas  I  am  come  again,  and 
mean  to  take  them  away,  too,  with  105  pounds  of 
the  135  that  you  gave  me  for  them." 

Need  I  say  any  more  upon  this  subject?  Is  it  not 
something  monstrous  to  suppose,  that  it  would  be 
possible  for  the  Bank  Company  to  buy  gold  in  quan- 
tity sufficient  to  be  able  to  pay  their  notes  in  it? 
"  Well,"  say  others,  "  but  the  Bank  may  lessen  the 
quantity  of  its  paper  by  narrowing'  its  discounts" 
To  be  sure,  they  might ;  and  the  only  consequence 
of  that  would  be,  that  the  taxes  would  not  be  paid, 
and,  of  course,  that  the  soldiers,  the  judges,  and  all 
other  persons  paid  by  the  public,  would  have  to  go 
without  pay.  The  discounts  make  a  part  of  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  327 

system ;  and,  if  it  be  put  a  stop  to,  that  is  neither 
more  or  less  than  one  of  the  ways  of  totally  de- 
stroying the  system.  To  lessen  the  quantity  of  the 
paper  is,  therefore,  impossible,  without  producing 
ruin  amongst  all  persons  in  trade  and  agriculture, 
and  without  disabling  the  country  to  pay  the  taxes, 
at  their  present  nominal  amount. 

But,  suppose  all  other  difficulties  were  got  over, 
did  these  gentlemen  of  the  Bullion  Committee,  ever 
reflect  upon  the  consequences  of  raising  the  value 
of  money  to  what  it  was  before  the  Bank  Stoppage  ? 
Sir  FRANCIS  BURDETT,  in  his  speech,  during  the 
Bullion  Debate,  told  them  of  these  consequences. 
He  observed,  and  very  justly,  that,  if  money  were, 
by  any  means,  to  be  restored  to  the  value  it  bore  in 
the  year  1796,  the  interest  of  the  National  Debt 
never  could  be  paid  by  the  people;  that  interest,  he 
observed,  was  now  35,000,00(U.  a  year ;  and,  if  the 
value  of  money  was  brought  back  to  the  standard 
of  1796,  this  interest  would  instantly  swell  to 
43,000,000/.  of  money,  at  the  present  value.  All 
the  grants,  pensions,  fixed  emoluments,  pay  of  sol- 
diers, judges,  chancellors,  clerks,  commissioners, 
and  the  rest,  would  be  raised,  in  point  of  real 
amount,  in  the  same  proportion ;  so  that,  it  would 
be  utterly  impossible  for  taxes,  to  such  an  amount,  to 
be  raised.*  And,  if  it  were  possible,  it  would  be  fre- 

*  The  above  quoted  speech  is  my  property.  I  was  in 
Newgate  at  the  time  that  it  was  made ;  and,  when  the  de- 
bate, during  which  it  was  uttered,  was  about  to  come  on,  I 
besought  BURDETT  to  put  on  record  these  opinions,  telling 
him,  that  the  time  would  come  and  must  come,  when  he 
would  have  to  refer  to  them  with  triumphant  exultation ; 
that  it  was  nonsense  to  hope  to  obtain  reform,  as  long  as 
the  paper  arid  funding  system  remained  unhurt ;  that  it  could 
not  so  remain  for  a  great  many  years;  and  that  when  it  be- 
gan to  produce  all  the  horrible  calamities,  that  must,  in  its 
last  stages,  be  its  natural  fruit,  it  would  be  a  proud  thing  for 
him,  and  would  give  him  great  weight  with  the  nation,  to  be 
able  to  show,  that,  if  his  advice  had  been  followed,  these  ca- 
lamities would  never  have  been  known,  or,  at  the  least, 
would  have  been  greatly  mitigated.  Finding  him  willing  to 
follow  my  advice,  I  gave  him  the  opinions  on  paper;  he  took 


328  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

quently  unjust ;  for,  observe,  all  the  money  (making 
nearly  one  half  of  the  National  Debt)  that  has  been 
borrowed  since  the  Bank  Company  stopped  paying 
in  gold  and  silver ;  all  the  money  borrowed  since 
that  time ;  all  the  loans  made  in  the  name  of  the 
public  since  that  time ;  all  the  money  lent  to  the 
public,  as  it  is  called,  has  been  lent  in  depreciated 
paper  ;  and,  that  which  has  been  so  lent  this  year, 
nas,  if  guineas  are  at  27  shillings,  been  lent  in  paper ; 
27  shillings  of  which  are  worth  no  more  than  a 
guinea.  And,  are  the  people  to  be  called  upon  to 
pay  interest  upon  this  money  in  a  currency  of  which 
21  shillings  are  worth  a  guinea  ?  This  would  be 
so  abominably  unjust,  that  I  wonder  how  any  man 
like  Mr.  HORNER,  ever  came  to  think  of  it.  He  ex- 
pressly stated,  that  the  paper  was  now  worth  only 
155.  Wd.  in  the  pound  ;  of  course,  he  must  have 
known,  that  this  was  the  sort  of  thing  of  which  the 
loans,  for  some  years  past,  consisted ;  and  yet,  he 
would  have  had  a  law  passed,  the  effect  of  which 
would  have  been  to  make  the  people  pay  interest  for 
this  money  at  the  rate  of  twenty  shillings  in  the 
pound.  This  is  what  never  could  have  been  sub- 
mitted to :  not  because  the  people  would  have  re- 
sisted ;  that  is  not  what  I  mean ;  but  it  is  what 
could  not  have  been  carried  into  effect,  and,  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  man  could  not  have  two  skins 
from  the  carcass  of  the  same  cat.  If  the  quantity  of 
the  Bank  paper  were  diminished,  its  value  would 
rise ;  and,  if  its  value  rose,  the  value  of  the  interest 
upon  the  National  Debt  would  rise  also;  therefore, 

the  paper  away,  made  it  his  own,  and  uttered  the  opinions  as 
above,  almost  m  my  very  words.  Since  that  time,  he  has. 
in  the  hope  of  keeping  me  out  of  my  country  for  life,  published 
my  private  letters,  and  has  done  every  thing  within  his  pow- 
er to  destroy  my  character,  and  my  means  of  being  useful  to 
my  country.  I  have  triumphed  over  him  completely.  He 
has  been  baffled  in  all  his  base  attempts  against  me ;  but, 
I  think  it  right  injustice  to  my  readers,  to  pluck  this  shining 
feather  (out  of  scores  that  I  might  pluck)  from  the  wing  of 
this  ungrateful  Jack-Daw. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  329 

to  enable  the  people  to  continue  to  pay  the  interest 
upon  the  Debt,  the  amount  of  the  interest  must  be 
lessened,  and  what  would  that  be  but  a  partial 
sponge.  So  that,  turn  and  twist  the  thing,  whate- 
ver way  you  will,  you  still  find  it  the  same  ;  you 
still  find,  that  the  system  must  go  on  in  all  its  parts, 
or  be  put  a  stop  to  altogether. 

In  most  other  cases,  when  men  talk  of  a  remedy, 
they  advert  to  the  cause  of  the  evil.  If  I  find  that 
my  .health  is  injured  by  drinking  brandy,  the  first 
thing  I  ought  to  do  in  order  to  recover  my  health, 
would  naturally  be  to  leave  off  drinking  brandy. 
What  a  fool,  what  worse  than  idiot,  must  that  man 
be,  who,  feeling  the  fire  burn  his  shins,  still  retains 
his  seat.  Yet,  in  this  important  national  concern, 
never  do  you  find  any  of  our  writers  or  legislators 
dwelling  upon  the  cause  of  the  evil,  of  which  they 
appear  so  anxious  to  get  rid.  They  tell  us,  indeed, 
that  the  depreciation  .of  the  paper  is  occasioned  by 
its  excessive  quantity ;  but  here  they  stop ;  they 
never  go  back  to  the  cause  of  that  excessive  quan- 
tity of  paper ;  or,  if  they  do,  they  only  speak  of  the 
interests  of  the  Bank  Company.  If  they  did  go 
back  to  the  real  cause,  they  would  find  it  in  the  in- 
crease of  the  national  Debt,  to  pay  the  interest  of 
which,  commonly  called  dividends,  has  required, 
has  rendered  absolutely  necessary,  the  present  quan- 
tity of  paper.  Indeed,  one  engenders  the  other. 
Every  loan  occasions  a  fresh  batch  of  paper  to  pay 
the  interest  upon  it ;  that  fresh  batch  of  paper  causes 
a  new  depreciation  and  a  new  demand  for  paper  again 
to  make  up  in  the  quantity  what  has  been  lost  in  the 
quality.  So  that  to  talk  of  lessening  the  quantity  of 
the  paper,  while  the  national  Debt  remains  undi- 
minished,  does  really  seem  to  me  something  too  ab- 
surd to  be  attributed  to  any  man  of  sense.  What, 
then,  must  it  be  to  talk  of  lessening  the  quantity 
of  paper,  while  the  national  Debt  is  increasing  at 
an  enormous  rate,  and  while  it  is  notorious  that  that 
Debt  has  been  nearly  doubled  in  amount  during  the 
28* 


330  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

last  fourteen  years;  aye,  while  it  is  notorious, 
that,  during  the  last  fourteen  years,  that  Debt  has 
increased  as  much  as  the  whole  amount  of  it  was 
before ;  or  in  other  words,  that  since  1796  as  much 
money  has  been  borrowed  by  the  Government  as 
was  borrowed  in  the  whole  hundred  years  preced- 
ing ?  What  must  it  be,  then,  to  talk  of  lessening 
the  quantity  of  the  paper,  while  the  national  Debt, 
which  was,  and  is,  the  cause  of  the  paper,  keeps 
on  in  this  manner  increasing  ?  One  really  would 
think  that  such  a  proposition  could  have  originated 
only  in  Bedlam.  In  1798,  the  next  year  after  the 
stoppage,  the  amount  of  Bank  of  England  Notes  in 
circulation  was,  13,334,752/. ;  and  the  amount  of  the 
interest  upon  the  national  Debt,  in  that  year,  was, 
17,750, 4Q2L  In  1809,  the  amount  of  the  Bank  of 
England  Notes  in  circulation  was,  21,249,9802. ;  and 
the  amount  of  the  interest  upon  the  national  Debt  in 
that  year  was,  30,093,447/.  (exclusive  of  Irish  loans.) 
Now  let  this  be  tried  by  the  rule  of  Three,  and  you 
will  see  with  what  exactness  the  amount  of  the 
Bank  Notes  keeps  pace  with  the  amount  of  the  inte- 
rest upon  the  national  Debt,  commonly  called  the 
Dividends,  which  many  poor  creatures  in  the  coun- 
try look  upon,  or,  rather,  used  to  look  upon,  as  some- 
thing of  a  nature  almost  divine.  Let  us  put  this 
down  a  little  more  distinctly. 

In  1798,  the  Dividends  amounted  to     ....    £17,750,402 
The  Bank  Notes  out  in  circulation  .    .        13,334,752 

In  1809,  the  Dividends  amounted  to 30,093,447 

The  Bank  Notes  in  circulation  .  .  .  .  21,249,980 
Here  we  have  the  real  cause  visibly  before  us. 
What  folly,  what  madness,  is  it  then,  to  talk  of  lessen- 
ing the  amount  of  the  notes,  while  we  are  continually 
augmenting  the  amount  of  the  Dividends,  which  are 
the  cause  of  the  notes  ?  Here  we  have  before  our  eyes 
proof  that  the  Dividends  (by  the  use  of  which  word  I 
mean  to  include  all  the  annual  charges  upon  the  Debt) 
and  the  Bank  Notes  have  gone  on  increasing  for 
the  last  ten  years,  and  I  had  before  shown  that  they 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  331 

had  done  so  theretofore ;  and,  with  this  fact  before 
our  eyes,  we,  the  people  of  this  "most  thinking  na- 
tion," hear  some  of  our  legislators  propose  to  lessen 
the  amount  of  the  paper,  while  not  a  man  of  them 
seems  to  dream  of  lessening  the  amount  of  the  Debt. 
We  hear  them  propose  to  narrow  the  stream,  while 
they  say  not  a  word  about  narrowing  the  spring 
whence  it  flows.  They  have  seen,  or  you,  at  least, 
have  seen,  Gentlemen,  that  the  bank-paper  arose 
out  of  the  national  Debt ;  you  have  seen  that  the 
Bank  was  created  in  a  short  time  after  the  Debt  be- 
gan ;  you  have  seen  the  increase  of  the  paper  keep 
an  exact  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  Debt ;  and,  is 
it  not  then,  to  war  against  facts,  against  a  century  of 
experience,  against  the  nature  of  things,  to  propose 
to  narrow  the  issues  of  the  paper  without  previously 
narrowing  the  bounds  of  the  Debt  and  its  Dividends  ? 
If  the  authors  of  this  proposition  had  read  the  work 
of  PAINE,  they  would  never  have  offered  such  a  pro- 
position. Read  this  work  they  may,  but  they  have 
not  duly  considered  its  arguments,  or  they  have  shut 
their  eyes  against  the  clear  conviction  that  it  is  cal- 
culated to  produce.  He  pointed  out  in  his  Second 
Part  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  the  means  of  saving 
England  in  the  way  of  finance.  That  work  was 
written  in  1791.  So  early  as  that  he  foresaw  and 
foretold  what  we  have  now  before  our  eyes,  and 
what  we  have  daily  to  expect.  He  there  pointed  out 
the  sure  and  certain  means  of  effectually  putting  a 
stop  to  further  increase  of  the  Debt,  of  insuring  a 
real  diminution  of  it,  and,  at  the  same  time  of  doing 
ample  justice  to  the  fund-holders.  For  this  pam- 
phlet he  was  prosecuted,  and  having  gone  out  of  the 
country,  he  was  outlawed.  A  Royal  Proclamation 
was  issued  principally  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing 
his  work,  scores  of  pamphlets  having  been  written 
in  answer  to  him  in  vain.  He  was  burnt  in  effigy  in 
most  parts  of  this  his  native  country  ;  and  his  works 
were  suppressed  by  the  arm  of  the  law.  Well,  our 
Government  had  its  way ;  it  followed  its  own  coun- 


332  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

sel  and  rejected  that  of  PAINE  ;  he  was  overcome  by 
it,  and  driven  from  the  country ;  those  who  endea- 
voured to  cause  his  principles  to  have  effect  were 
punished  or  silenced,  or  both:  and,  what  is  the  re- 
sult ?  That  result  is  now  before  us,  and  fast  ap- 
proaching us  ;  and,  in  a  short  time,  in  all  human  pro- 
bability, events  will  enable  us  to  form  a  perfectly 
correct  decision  upon  the  respective  merits  and  de- 
merits of  the  then  conflicting  parties. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  if  you  have  attentively  read  the 
Letters,  of  which  I  now  address  to  you  the  XXVth, 
you  will  have  no  doubt  at  all,  that  the  cause  of  the 
influx  of  paper  and  of  the  consequent  depreciation  of 
all  money  first,  and  then  of  the  paper  itself  alone, 
as  compared  to  the  money ;  you  will  have  no  doubt 
that  the  real  cause  of  all  this  is,  the  increase  of  the 
National  Debt ;  and,  yet,  in  all  the  Parliamentary 
debates  upon  the  subject,  you  have  heard  of  scarcely 
any  man  who  ventured  to  mention  this  cause.  It 
was  a  thing  too  tender  to  touch.  It  was  what  we 
call  a  sore  place ;  and,  the  old  proverb  about  the 

failed  horse  applied  too  aptly.  If  the  depreciation 
ad  been  traced  to  the  National  Debt,  as  Mr.  HORNS 
TOOKE  once  traced  it  while  he  was  in  Parliament; 
for.  he  then  foresaw  and  foretold  what  was  now  come 
to  pass,  and  told  the  House,  that,  if  they  continued 
the  then  expenditure,  the  fund-holder  would  not  get, 
in  a  few  years,  a  quartern  loaf  for  the  dividend  upon 
a  hundred  pounds  of  stock ;  if  the  depreciation  had 
thus  been  traced  back  to  its  real  efficient  cause,  it 
would  have  awakened  reflections  of  an  unpleasant 
tendency ;  it  would  have  set  men  to  consider  what 
was  the  cause  of  the  increase  of  the  Debt ;  to  look 
back  and  inquire  whither  the  money  was  gone ;  for 
what  purpose  it  had  been  borrowed ;  who  were%  the 
persons  that  had  profiled  from  that  borrowing ; 
who,  in  short,  it  was  that  had  swallowed  all  that 
money,  the  interest  of  which  the  nation  was  paying, 
and  had  so  long  been  paying.  These  reflections  it 
was  not  the  desire  of  either  party  to  awaken;  but 


PAPER  AGAIN3T  GOLD.  333 

they  belong  to  the  subject,  they  naturally  present 
themselves  to  every  one,  who  looks  only  a  little  be- 
neath the  surface,  and  I  venture  to  say,  that,  in  the 
end,  they  will  become  familiar  to  every  man  in  the 
kingdom.  If  this  real  cause  of  the  evil  had  been 
acknowledged,  it  would  have  saved  a  great  deal  of 
time ;  for,  then,  men  would  not  have  amused  them- 
selves with  talking  about  such  REMEDIES  as  that 
of  Mr.  HORNER;  and  all  the  talk  about  the  narrow- 
ing  of  discounts  and  the  purchasing  of  gold  and 
the  improving  of  the  exchange  would  have  been 
heard  like  the  twice  told  tale  of  an  idiot.  The  short 
and  the  only  question  would  have  been  this  :  can  we, 
by  any  means,  diminish  the  amount  of  the  Divi- 
dends ?  And  if  that  question  had  been  answered  in 
the  negative,  there  was  no  course,  for  those  who 
wished  to  support  the  Pitt  system  to  -pursue,  but 
that  of  letting  things  take  their  own  course,  and  aid 
the  paper  with  their  wishes. 

So  much  for  the  REMEDY  of  the  Bullion  Com- 
mittee ;  but,  our  attention  is  now  called  to  another, 
founded  on  more  imperious  circumstances.  I  allude 
to  the  proposition  of  EARL  STANHOPE,  which  was, 
on  the  27th  of  June,  brought  forward  in  the  shape 
of  a  Bill,  and  which  is,  in  that  shape,  now  actually 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  where  it  has  undergone 
a  second  reading.  Compared  with  this  proposition, 
all  that  has  been  said  and  done  before  is  mere  child's 
play.  This  Bill  brings  the  matter  home  to  the  pub- 
lic mind ;  it  shows  the  most  credulous  that  even 
those,  on  whose  stoutness  they  rested  their  faith,  be- 
gin to  quiver.  It  cries,  a  truce  with  all  pretensions. 
It  puts  the  sense  and  the  sincerity  of  every  disputant 
to  the  test.  The  Minister  told  us,  that  he  wished 
the  debate  on  the  Bullion  Report  to  come  on,  that 
the  matter  might  be  set  at  rest.  Set  at  rest! 
Mercy  on  us!  Set  at  rest!  And  so  said  OLD 
GEORGE  ROSE  too.  But  what  did  they  mean  by  set- 
ting the  matter  at  rest  ?  Is  it  possible,  that  they 
could  imagine,  that  this  matter  was  to  be  set  at  rest ; 


334  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

that  this  great  question  of  paper  money  ;  that  this 
subject  in  which  every  human  creature  in  the  coun- 
try is  so  deeply  interested  ;  is  it  possible  that  they 
thought  this  matter  would  be  completely  set  at  rest 
by  a  vote  for  their  majority  ?  No,  noi  This  is  one 
of  the  things  that  that  House  cannot  do.  They  can 
do  a  great  deal ;  they  can  do  more  than  I  dare  to 
trust  myself  to  describe  ;  but,  they  cannot  set  this 
matter  at  rest ;  nor  have  they,  and  all  the  branches 
of  the  Government  united,  the  power  to  stay  the  pro- 
gress of  the  paper  money  only  for  one  single  hour. 
The  Minister  and  his  people  have  now  seen  what 
rest  they  insured  for  the  subject !  I  always  said, 
that  the  "  first  man  of  landed  property  who  openly 
made  a  distinction  between  paper  and  gold,  would 
put  the  whole  system  to  its  trumps,  and  compel  the 
bank  notes  ,io  sue  for  the  power  of  the  Government 
for  their  .protection."  This  has  now  been  verified, 
and  the  remainder  of  my  prediction,  which  I  need 
not  here  repeat,  is  .not  far  from  its  accomplishment. 
The  grounds  of  LORD  STANHOPE'S  proposition  were 
stated  by  himself  very  explicitly,  in  moving,  the  2nd 
instant,  the  second  reading  of  his  Bill.  He  said, 
that  .he  had  long  thought  upon  the  subject,  and  had 
long  entertained  the  opinion,  that  some  legislative 
measure  was  necessary  to  preserve  the  bank  note 
system  from  total  ruin  ;  that  a  notice  recently  given 
by  LORD  KING  to  his  tenants,  signifying  that  he 
would  no  longer  receive  his  rents  but  in  gold  or  in  a 
quantity  of  paper  equivalent  in  powers  of  purchase 
to  gold,*  had  convinced  him  that  there  was  no  time 

*  "  By  Lease,  dated  1802,  you  have  contracted  to  pay  the 
annual  rent  of  471.  bs.  in  good  and  lawful  money  of  Great 
Britain.  In  consequence  of  the  late  great  depreciation  of  pa- 
per money,  lean  no  longer  accept  any  bank  notes,  at  their 
nominal  value,  in  payment  or  satisfaction  of  an  old  contract. 
I  must  therefore  desire  you  to  provide  for  the  payment  of 
your  rent  in  the  legal  gold  coin  of  the  realm.  At  the  same 
time,  haying  no  other  object  than  to  secure  payment  of  the 
real  intrinsic  value  of  the  sum  stipulated  by  agreement,  and 
being  desirous  to  avoid  giving  you  any  unnecessary  trouble, 
I  shall  be  willing  to  receive  payment  in  either  of  the  manners 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.         ,     335 

to  be  lost,  and  that  the  measure  in  contemplation 
ought  to  be  adopted  before  the  Parliament  rose.  He 
said  that  the  Ministers  having  declared,  that  their 
only  objection  to  the  measure  arose  from  an  opinion, 
that  they  thought  no  measure  of  the  kind  necessary, 
being  persuaded  that  nobody  would  be  found  to  fol- 
low the  example  of  Lord  King,  it  was  only  neces- 
sary for  him  to  show  them  that  there  were  others  to 
follow  that  example,  in  order  to  convince  the  Minis- 
ters, that  the  Bill  was  entitled  to  their  support. 
Having  made  these  preliminary  observations,  he  said, 
that  he  had  a  bundle  of  instances  of  this  sort,  and 
he  only  wished  that  a  great  many  other  persons 
would  declare  their  intentions  at  once,  and  then  the 
House  would  proceed  to  prevent  the  evil.  He  then 
produced  a  number  of  letters,  from  which  he  read 
extracts.  One  person  wrote,  that  his  landlord  had 
said,  "what  one  landlord  can  do,  all  can  do,  and  if 
Lord  King  succeed,  I  will  do  the  same."  Another 
letter  related  a  recent  transaction  in  Hampshire, 
where  a  man  bought  an  estate  for  400/.  and  paid 
down  100/.  of  the  money,  and  afterwards  laid  out  se- 
veral hundreds  of  pounds  upon  the  premises,  and 
when  the  time  of  payment  came,  the  seller  insisted 
upon  having  payment  in  guineas,  which  the  buyer 
could  riot  obtain  ;  the  seller,  however,  would  have  it, 
or  have  his  land  back  again,  and  the  only  consolation 
left  to  the  buyer  was  an  intimation  from  a  friend  of 
the  seller,  that  he  could  inform  him  where  he  might 

following,  according  to  your  option. — 1st,  By  payment  in 
Guineas  ;— 2nd,  If  Guineas  cannot  be  procured,  by  a  payment 
in  Portugal  Gold  coin,  equal  in  weight  to  the  number  of 
Guineas  requisite  to  discharge  the  rent;— 3rd,  By  a  payment 
in  bank  paper  of  a  sum  sufficient  to  purchase  (at  the  present 
market  price)  the  weight  of  .Standard  Gold  requisite  to  dis- 
charge me  rent. — The  alteration  of  the  value  of  the  paper 
money  is  estimated  in  this  manner  :  the  price  of  Gold  in  1802, 
the  year  of  your  agreement,  was  4Z.  an  ounce.  The  present 
market  price  is  4Z.  14s.  arising  from  the  diminished  value  of 
Paper ;  in  that  proportion  an  addition  of  17 1.  10*.,  per  cent  in 
paper  money  will  be  required  as  the  equivalent,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  rent  in  paper." 


336  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

obtain  the  guineas  at  27  shillings  ea-ch.  Another 
letter  stated  that  a  lady,  who  was  a  land-owner,  had 
insisted  upon  her  rent  in  gold,  and  that  the  tenant 
apprehended  a  seizure  of  his  goods,  and  was  ready 
to  verify  the  facts  if  called  on.  Another  informed 
him,  on  the  part  of  an  attorney,  that  the  practice  was 
become  very  common  to  sell  guineas,  and  then  pay 
debts  with  the  paper. 

These  were  the  grounds,  stated  by  LORD  STAN- 
HOPE, of  the  measure  that  he  proposed  ;  and,  upon 
his  stating  these  grounds,  the  Ministers,  who  had, 
at  the  first  reading,  said  that  they  did  not  see  any 
necessity  for  the  measure,  or  any  measure  of  the 
kind,  allowed  that  there  was  such  necessity,  and 
supported  the  second  reading  accordingly. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  before  I  offer  you  any  observa- 
tions upon  this  measure  itself,  or  upon  the  conduct 
of  LORD  KING,  whose  notice  to  his  tenants  seems  to 
have  given  rise  to  it,  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  me  to 
say,  that,  from  all  that  has  ever  come  to  my  know- 
ledge, there  is  not  a  more  disinterested  man,  or  a 
truer  friend  to  freedom  and  to  his  country,  breathing, 
than  LORD  STANHOPE,  whom  I  trace  through  the  par- 
liamentary proceedings  of  the  last  twenty  years,  al- 
ways standing  nobly  forward  in  the  cause  of  jus- 
tice, liberty,  and  humanity,  and,  but  too  often  stand- 
ing forward  alone.  His  protest  against  the  Anti- 
Jacobin  war,  which  began  in  1793,  and  which  has 
finally  led  to  our  present  calamities,  will  live  when 
we  shall  all  be  in  our  graves.  He  there  pointed  out 
all,  yea  all,  that  has  now  come  to  pass.  That  pro- 
test, every  sentence  of  which  is  full  of  wisdom  and 
of  just  sentiment,  has  these  remarkable  words : 
"  Because  war  with  France  is,  at  present,  most  im- 
politic, extremely  dangerous  to  our  allies  the  Dutch, 
hazardous  with  respect  to  the  internal  peace  and  ex- 
ternal power  of  this  country,  and  is  likely  to  be 

highly  injurious  to  our  commerce The 

war  may,  therefore,  prove  to  be  a  war  against  our 
commerce  and  manufactures,  against  the  proprietors 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  337 

of  the  funds,  against  our  paper  currency,  and 
against  every  description  of  property  in  this 
country"  How  completely  has  all  this  been  verified  ! 
LORD  STANHOPE  was  abused  :  he  was  called  a  jacobin 
and  a  leveller,  and  now  the  nation  is  tasting  the  bitter 
fruit  of  the  spirit  that  dictated  that  abuse.  Every 
where  was  he  to  be  found,  in  those  horrible  days, 
where  liberty  was  assailed.  Not  an  act,  which  he 
deemed  injurious  to  the  rights  of  Englishmen,  es- 
caped his  strenuous  opposition.  In  short,  were  I 
called  upon  to  name  the  peer,  whom  I  thought  to 
have  acted  the  best  and  truest  part  in  those  times, 
and  for  the  whole  course  of  the  last  twenty  awful 
years,  I  should  certainly  name  this  very  nobleman. 

You  will,  therefore,  Gentlemen,  believe  that,  if  I 
dissent  from  the  measure  which  he  has  now  proposed, 
that  dissent  proceeds  from  my  conviction,  that  the 
measure  itself,  is  not  calculated  to  produce  that  good, 
which  I  am  certain  its  author  wishes  it  to  produce. 

The  detail  of  the  Bill  I  will  not  attempt  to  dis- 
cuss. Its  principles  are  what  have  struck  me,  and 
these  I  gather  from  its  chief  provisions,  which  are, 
that,  in  future,  the  gold  coins  shall  not  be  tendered 
or  taken  for  more  than  their  nominal  value,  and  that 
the  bank  paper  shall  not  be  tendered  or  taken  for 
less  than  its  nominal  value.  This  is  LORD  STAN- 
HOPE'S REMEDY  ;  and  this  he  appears  to  think  will 
prevent  the  possibility  of  a  further  depreciation  of 
the  paper.  We  have  seen  the  cause  and  the  pro- 
gress of  that  depreciation  ;  we  have  seen  how  the 
paper  pulled  down  the  coin  along  with  it,  till  the 
coin  could  no  longer  endure  the  society  ;  we  have 
seen  the  time  and  the  manner  of  their  separation; 
but,  LORD  STANHOPE  appears  to  think,  that,  by  the 
means  of  this  Bill,  he  shall  be  able  not  only  to  re- 
store that  harmony  which  formerly  existed  between 
them ;  but  that  he  shall  be  able  to  chain  them  toge- 
ther for  ever  after ;  to  bind  them  as  it  were  in  the 
bonds  of  marriage,  and  to  render  the  ties  indissoluble, 
If  he  do  this,  he  will  do  what  never  was  done  before 
29 


338  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

in  the  world  ;  he  will  destroy  all  the  settled  maxims 
of  political  economy  as  far  as  they  relate  to  finance  ; 
his  achievement  will  be  a  triumph  not  only  over  the 
opinions  and  experience  of  mankind,  but  over  the 
very  nature  of  man,  which  incessantly  impels  him 
to  seek  his  own  interest,  and,  at  the  very  least,  to 
use  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  provide  for  his 
own  preservation. 

After  having  said  this  I  shall  naturally  be  sup- 
posed to  be  convinced,  that  the  Bill  would  be  utterly 
inefficient  for  the  purposes  it  contemplates.  Indeed, 
such  is  my  decided  opinion,  and  the  reasons  for  that 
opinion,  I  will  now  proceed  to  submit  to  you.  A 
guinea  is  not  to  pass  for  more  than  21s.  There  must 
be  some  penalty  to  prevent  the  passing  of  it  for 
more.  LORD  STANHOPE  will  propose  nothing  cruel  ; 
but  for  argument's  sake,  let  the  penalty  be  death. 
What,  then  ?  Why  need  any  one  risk  any  penalty, 
as  far  as  ready  money  transaction  goes?  One  01 
you  goes  to  market  with  a  pig  for  sale.  "  What  do 
you  ask  for  that  pig,  farmer?"  Answer :  "  Twenty- 
seven  shillings."  "  I'll  give  you  a  guinea."  "  You 
shall  have  him."  Where  is  the  possibility,  then,  of  en- 
forcing such  a  law  ?  The  parties,  in  any  case,  have 
only  to  settle,  before  they  deal,  in  what  sort  of  cur- 
rency payment  shall  be  made,  and  then  they  will, 
of  course,  make  the  price  accordingly.  As  to  debts^ 
indeed,  whether  book  debts,  or  debts  arising  from 
contract,  in  the  payment  of  them,  the  gold  and  notes 
must,  if  this  Bill  pass,  be  taken  at  their  nominal  va- 
lue ;  that  is  to  say,  the  paper  must;  for,  as  to  gold, 
who  will  be  fool  enough  to  tender  gold  in  payment 
at  its  nominal  amount,  when  it  is  notorious  that  it 
will  fetch  a  premium  of  six  shillings  upon  the  guinea  ? 
If  the  Bill  become  a  law,  therefore,  any  tenant  who 
has  rent  to  pay,  and  who  has  guineas  in  his  purse, 
will  first  go  and  purchase  paper  money  with  his 
guineas,  and  with  the  paper  money,  he  will  go  and 
pay  his  rent.  This  rent,  for  instance,  is  105/.  a  year, 
and  he  has  a  hundred  guineas  in  his  chest.  But,  he 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  339 

will  not  be  fool  enough  to  carry  these  to  his  landlord. 
He  will  go  and  buy  105  pounds  worth  of  paper 
money  with  seventy-eight  of  his  guineas ;  and  will 
then  go  and  pay  his  rent,  and  will  return  home  with 
28  of  his  guineas  still  in  his  pocket.  So  that,  as  far 
as  the  Bill  will  have  effect,  it  appears  to  me  that 
it  will  bear  almost  exclusively  upon  landlords. 

I  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  that  though  guineas  may 
now  be  bought  and  sold,  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
cision of  the  judges,  which,  in  the  case  of  DE 
YONGE,  has  been  promulgated  since  I  began  this 
Letter,*  yet  we  are  not  to  suppose,  that  the  present 
Bill  will  not  provide  against  such  traffic,  by  making 
it  penal  to  be  concerned  in  it.  But,  as  I  have  shown 

*  The  following  is  the  Report  of  this  DECISION,  as  given  by 
the  Chief  Judge,  Lord  Ellenborough,  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  on  the  3rd  instant. — "  THE  KING  against  DE  YONGE. — 
Lord  ELLENBOROUGH  communicated  the  Judgment  of  the 
Court  in  this  case,  which  along  with  another  case,  the  King 
y.  Wright,  coming  from  the  Assizes  for  the  County  of  Buck- 
ingham, had  been  reserved  for  the  opinion  of  the  12  Judges, 
on  a  point  of  law.  Both  causes  had  been  fully  and  ably  ar- 
gued before  the  Judges  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  Chamber, 
and  the  argument  had  occupied  a  number  of  days.  The  ques- 
tion arising  in  the  present  case  was,  the  Defendant  having 
been  convicted  of  purchasing  52  Guineas  at  the  rate,  in  Bank 
Notes  of  22s.  Gd.  per  Guinea,  whether,  in  so  doing,  he  had 
been  guilty  of  an  offence  punishable  under  the  Act  of  the  5th 
and  6th  of  Edward  VI.  which  prohibited  the  exchanging  of 
coined  gold  for  coined  silver,  or  for  gold  and  silver,  the  party 
giving  or  receiving  more  in  value  than  the  same  was  current 
for  at  the  time?  All  the  Judges," except  three,  were  present 
at  the  whole  of  these  arguments,  and  at  the  last  of  them  the 
whole  of  the  Judges  were  present.  The  Court  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  what  was  the  opinion  of  the  absent  Judges 
on  that  part  of  the  case  at  the  argument  on  which  they  were 
not  present,  but  they  had  no  reason  to  presume  that  they 
dissented  from  the  opinion  of  the  other  Judges  who  were 
present,  all  of  whom  concurred  in  opinion  that  the  Defendant 
in  this  case  was  not  liable  under  the  Act  of  the  5th  and  6th 
of  Edward  VI.  The  Judgment  therefore,  fell  to  be  arrested; 
and  the  Judgment  was  arrested  accordingly."  Thus.  then, 
this  case  is  decided  as  I  always  said  it  must  be,  unless  all 
semblance  of  law  was  banished  from  the  land.  Many  people 
thought  and  said,  that  the  conviction  would  be  confirmed ; 
but,  I  never  thought  so  for  a  moment.  Oh,  no !  The  Judg- 
es knew  a  great  deal  better  than  to  do  that ! 


340  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

above,  men  may  go  on  with  all  ready  money  transac- 
tions, and,  with  perfect  safety,  make  a  distinction 
between  paper  and  coin,  which  amounts  to  the  same 
thing  as  buying  and  selling  the  coin  or  the  paper, 
It  will  require  but  very  little  ingenuity  to  discover 
the  means  of  so  managing  the  matter  that  the  land- 
lord shall  never  see  a  shilling's  worth  of  coin  from 
the  hands  of  the  tenant. 

But,  suppose  that  the  coin  should  not  be  permitted 
to  be  bought  and  sold ;  does  any  one  believe,  that 
any  law  will  prevent  a  private  traffic  in  the  article? 
And,  if  that  could  be  done,  is  any  one  mad  enough 
to  suppose,  that  the  guinea  will  still  circulate  at 
par  with  the  paper  ?  Pass  this  Bill,  or  any  Bill, 
that  shall  prevent  men  from  passing  the  guinea  for 
more  than  its  nominal  worth,  and  the  consequence 
will  be,  that  a  guinea  will  never  again  be  seen  in 
circulation.  Those  who  have  them  will  keep  them 
in  their  chests,  waiting  an  occasion  to  export  them, 
or  more  patiently  waiting  till  circumstances  have 
produced  the  repeal  of  the  law  which  has  driven  the 
guinea  into  the  hoard.  The  cause  that  we  see  no 

fuineas  now  in  common  circulation,  is,  as  I  said 
efore,  that  they  cannot  obtain  their  fair  value. 
They  would  have  been  openly  sold,  long  enough 
ago,  had  there  not  been  an  opinion,  that  the  traffic 
was  punishable  by  law.  Now  that  obstacle  is  re- 
moved ;  but  in  all  likelihood,  another  will  be  erected 
by  the  present  Bill.  In  that  case,  the  guineas  will 
all  either  be  hoarded  or  sent  out  of  the  country,  and 
paper  must  and  will  be  made  to  supply  their  place. 
The  Dollars,  the  new  things  of  three  shillings  and 
eighteen  pence,  now  coming  out  from  the  Bank,  will 
also  be  hoarded ;  and  to  notes  for  shillings  and  six- 
pences, we  must  come,  I  am  convinced,  in  the  course 
of  the  year,  if  this  Bill  pass ;  so  that  the  Bill,  w^hile 
it  will  be  wholly  inefficient  for  the  purpose  of  arrest- 
ing the  progress  of  depreciation,  will  be  efficient 
enough  in  producing  a  contrary  effect. 

The  Bill  does  not,  the  author  of  it  says,  make 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  341 

bank  notes  a  legal  tender.  It  does  not  do  it  in 
words,  but  it  appears  to  me  to  endeavour  to  do  it  in 
effect ;  and  that  being  once  done,  all  the  usual  con- 
sequences of  a  legal  tender  must  follow.  It  was 
easy  to  see,  that  the  system  would  come  to  this 
pitch ;  there  is  nothing  in  the  state  to  which  we  are 
come,  that  ought  to  surprise  any  one ;  what  has 
happened,  was  to  be  expected,  and  was,  indeed,  long 
ago  foretold  ;  but,  what  might  reasonably  surprise 
one,  is,  to  hear  this  measure  represented  by  the  mi- 
nisters as  necessary  to  the  protection  of  the  fund- 
holder  :  Can  this  be  serious !  Is  it  possible,  that 
they  can  be  serious  when  they  say  this  ?  If  they 
are,  nothing  that  they  say  or  do,  can  ever  be  a  sub- 
ject of  wonder.  Men,  who  are  capable  of  believing 
that  the  Bill  of  Lord  Stanhope  will  operate  as  a 

protection  to  the  fund-holder,  are  capable 

but,  really,  I  want  words  to  answer  my  purpose. 
Imagination  can  frame  nothing  that  such  men  are 
not  capable  of  in  the  way  of  belief.  That  the  paper 
would,  at  last,  become  a  legal  tender,  or  forced  cir- 
culation, it  was  easy  to  see.  I  did,  indeed,  for  my 
own  part,  expect  this  state  of  the  paper  to  be  appa- 
rent long  ago.  The  faith  of  this  "most  thinking 
people,"  I  knew  to  be  almost  passing  conception; 
but,  still  I  did  not  think  it  adequate  to  the  support- 
ing of  this  paper-money  for  14  years  after  the  issuers 
had  ceased  to  pay  in  cash,  and  after  they  were  pro- 
tected by  law  against  the  demands  of  their  creditors. 
It  was,  however,  certain,  that  the  thing  must  come 
to  this  point  at  last ;  it  was  certain,  that,  if  the  Na- 
tional Debt  and  the  taxes  continued  to  increase,  the 
time  must  come  when  landlords  would  see  that  they 
must  either  starve,  or  demand  their  rents  in  coin ; 
and,  whenever  this  time  came,  it  was,  as  I  have  ma- 
ny times  said,  impossible  to  keep  up  the  paper  only 
for  six  months,  without  making  that  paper  a  legal 
tender,  which  might  eke  out  its  existence,  perhaps 
for  a  year  or  two,  but  which,  in  the  end,  must  insure 
its  total  destruction.  I  have  several  times  been  ask- 
29* 


342  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ed,  what  reason  there  was  why  landlords  should  not 
demand  their  rents  in  gold  and  silver;  or  in  bank 
notes  to  the  amount  of  the  gold  and  silver ;  and,  my 
answer  has  always  been,  that  there  was  no  reason 
at  all  against  it  now,  but  that  there  soon  would  be  ; 
for  that  the  moment  such  demand  was  made,  Bank 
notes  would  be  made  a  legal  tender.  This  was  na- 
tural, and,  therefore,  the  ministers  are  now  doing 
just  what  I  always  expected  they  would  do,  whene- 
ver any  land-holder  did  what  Lord  King  has  now 
done ;  but,  to  hear  them  speak  of  it  as  a  measure 
calculated  to  afford  protection  to  the  fund-holder,  is 
what  I  never  could  have  expected.  They  will  see 
what  sort  of  protection  it  will  give  him  ;  and  he 
will  feel  it !  What  will  be  his  fate,  I  shall  not  pre- 
tend to  say ;  but,  I  hope,  there  is  justice  enough  yet 
in  the  country,  real  justice  enough,  to  prevent  him 
from  perishing,  while  there  exist  the  means  of  such 
prevention.  I  trust,  that  his  claims  will  meet  with 
serious  and  patient  consideration;  that  the  question 
of  what  is  due  to  him,  and  to  whom  he  ought  to 
look  for  payment,  will  be  settled  upon  sound  prin- 
ciples of  equity.  I  am  for  giving  real  protection  to 
the  fund-holder ;  but,  to  hear  the  Ministers  say,  that 
he  is  to  meet  with  protection  from  a  measure  such 
as  that  now  before  Parliament,  a  measure  that  must 
inevitably  accelerate  the  depreciation  of  the  paper,  is, 
surely,  sufficient  to  fill  one  with  surprise  and  dismay, 
if,  at  this  day,  and  after  all  that  we  have  seen,  any 
thing  ought  to  produce  such  an  effect  in  our  minds. 

On  the  2nd  of  July,  a  protest  was  entered  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  against  Lord  STANHOPE'S  Bill, 
which  protest  I  here  insert.  "  Dissentient,  because 
we  think  it  the  duty  of  this  House  to  mark,  in  the 
first  instance,  with  the  most  decided  reprobation,  a 
Bill,  which,  in  our  judgment,  manifestly  leads  to 
the  introduction  of  laws,  imposing  upon  the  country 
the  compulsory  circulation  of  a  Paper  Currency  ; 
a  measure  fraught  with  injustice^  destructive  of  all 
confidence  in  the  legal  security  of  contracts,  and,  as 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  343 

invariable  experience  has  shown,  necessarily  pro- 
ductive of  the  most  fatal  calamities: 

GRENVILLE,   LANSDOWNE,     JERSEY,     KING, 

ESSEX,  COWPER,  GREY,       LAUDERDALE. 

"  For  the  reason  assigned  on  the  other  side,  and 
because  the  repeal  of  the  law  for  suspending  Bank 
Payments  in  cash,  is,  in  my  judgment,  the  only  mea- 
sure which  can  cure  the  inconveniences  already 
felt,  and  avert  the  yet  greater  calamities  which  are 
impending  from  the  present  state  of  the  circulation 
of  the  country  :  VASSALL  HOLLAND." 

In  the  protest  of  the  eight  peers  I  heartily  concur  j 
but,  I  do  not  agree  with  LORD  HOLLAND  in  his  addi- 
tion to  it,  if  his  lordship  means  to  say,  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  resume  cash  payments  at  the  Bank.  To 
pay  the  notes  in  gold  upon  demand,  agreeably  to  the 
promise  upon  the  face  of  the  notes,  is  certainly  the 
only  cure  for  the  inconveniencies  already  felt  and 
the  calamities  now  impending ;  but,  that  it  is  utterly 
impossible  to  adopt  this  cure  is,  to  my  mind,  not  less 
certain.  His  Lordship  proceeds  upon  the  motion  of 
Mr.  HORNER  and  the  Bullion  Committee,  namely, 
that  the  case  of  the  depreciation  consists  in  an  ex- 
cessive issue  of  paper,  which  is  very  true,  if  you 
compare  the  quantity  of  paper  with  that  of  the  gold, 
or  of  the  real  transactions  of  purchase  and  sale,  be- 
tween man  and  man;  but,  which  is  not  true,  if  you 
compare  the  quantity  of  paper,  with  the  amount  of 
the  Dividends  payable  on  the  National  Debt,  and 
I  would  be^  leave  to  put,  with  sincere  respect,  this 
question  to  LORD  HOLLAND:  "If  cash  payments 
were  restored,  and  money,  as  must  be  the  case,  were 
restored  to  its  former  value,  where  does  your  Lord- 
ship think  would  be  found  the  means  of  paying  the 
Dividends  ?" 

It  is  impossible  !  The  thing  never  can  go  back 
without  combustion  ;  no,  not  an  inch  ;  nay,  and  it 
musi  keep  advancing.  This  very  measure,  by  has- 
tening the  depreciation,  will  cause  a  new  addition, 
and  still  larger  than  former  additions,  to  the  Nation- 


-344  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

al  Debt,  and  of  course  to  the  Dividends.  Those 
additional  Dividends  must  be  paid  in  an  additional 
quantity  of  bank  notes ;  and  thus  the  system  must 
go  on,  as  PAINE  foretold,  with  an  accelerated  veto- 
city,  until  it  can  go  on  no  longer.  Having  this  opi- 
nion so  firmly  fixed  in  my  mind,  I  was  quite  sur- 
prised to  see  the  Marquis  of  LANSDOWNE  endeavour 
to  mend  the  Bill  of  LORD  STANHOPE  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  clause  for  prohibiting  the  Bank  Com- 
pany from  augmenting  the  quantity  of  their  paper 
after  the  passing  of  the  Bill.  This  shows,  that  his 
Lordship  has,  what  I  deem  to  be,  and  which,  I  think, 
I  have  proved  to  be,  a  most  erroneous  view  of  the 
real  cause  of  the  depreciation.  If  he  thought  with 
me,  that  the  cause  is  in  the  increase  of  the  National 
Debt  and  of  the  Dividends,  he  would  have  proposed 
no  such  amendment  as  this. 

As  to  the  conduct  of  LORD  KING,  nothing  could 
be  more  fair  or  more  laudable.  He  wished  to  take 
no  advantages  of  his  tenants  ;  he  only  wanted  a 
fulfilment  of  his  contract  with  them ;  and,  as  the 
spirit  of  the  contract  was  more  favourable  to  them 
than  the  letter,  he  abandoned  the  letter,  and  only  re- 
quired them  to  hold  to  the  spirit.  To  hear  him, 

therefore,  charged  with  oppression^  and  by ! 

But,  it  is  as  well  to  keep  ourselves  cool.  Let  others 
chafe  and  foam.  And.  if  the  House  of  Lords  do 
choose  thus  to  determine,  why,  all  that  I  can  say 
about  the  matter,  is,  that  they  are  the  best  judges 
whether  they  stand  in  need  of  their  rents,  and,  if 
they  do  not,  I  really  do  not  see  much  harm  in  their 
giving  them  to  their  tenants ;  and,  this  act  will  be 
the  more  generous  as  they  are  about  to  do  it  by  law, 
so  that  the  tenants  will  keep  the  rents  without  having 
to  give  the  landlords  even  thanks  in  return.  TJiat 
such  will  be  amongst  the  effects  of  the  Bill,  if  it 
pass,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and,  as  far  as  it  ope- 
rates in  this  way,  a  most  popular  Bill  it  will  be.  It 
will  act  as  a  distributor  of  wealth  ;  of  money, 
lands,  and  tenements ;  for,  to  suppose,  that,  in  many 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  345 

cases,  the  tenants  will  not  soon  become  the  proprie- 
tors^ is  to  discover  but  very  little  thought  on  the 
subject  5  and  that,  I  am  sure,  would  be  a  shame  in 
a  body  of  HEREDITARY  LEGISLATORS  in  the  "  most 
thinking  nation  in  the  world."  What  a  change  this 
will  make  !  Happy  is  the  man  who  is  a  tenant  I 
Much  better  off  is  he  than  the  man  who  tills  his  own 
land ;  because  the  former  has  given  nothing  at  all 
for  his,  whereas  the  latter  has  paid,  at  some  time  or 
other,  purchase  money  for  what  he  possesses.  The 
letting  of  long-  leases  is  out  of  fashion  ;  but,  in  ge- 
neral, the  lands  of  great  proprietors  are  held  upon 
lease,  and  these  leases  are  not,  upon  an  average,  for 
less  than  seven  years  at  the  lowest.  Some  of  these 
leases  are  nearly  expired,  of  course,  but  others  will 
naturally  be  but  just  commenced.  So  that,  the  ave- 
rage time,  for  which  the  land  is  now  let,  I  shall  take 
at  three  years  and  a  half.  All  the  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford's estates,  for  instance,  are  let,  then,  for  three 
years  and  a  half  yet  to  come.  Now,  if  the  paper 
depreciates  three  or  four  times  as  fast  as  it  has  hi- 
therto done,  the  tenants  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford  will 
have  a  brave  time  of  it  for  these  three  years  and  a 
half.  But,  if  the  Bill,  which  is  now  before  Parlia- 
ment, should  send  down  the  paper  to  the  state  of  the 
French  assignats  in  1794,  what  will^  in  that  casey 
be  the  situation  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford?  There 
are  many  landlords,  who  cannot  hold  out  for  three 
years  and  a  half,  and  who,  therefore,  must  sell,  in 
whole  or  in  part ;  but  there  will,  indeed,  be  this  con- 
venience, that  they  will  every  where  find  a  pur- 
chaser ready  at  hand  in  their  tenant,  and  one,  too, 
who  will  not  only  know  the  real  value  of  the  pro- 
perty, but  who  will  have  the  money  ready  to  pay  for 
it.  This  is  nothing  in  the  way  of  a  joke.  I  am  in 
earnest ;  it  is  what  I  am  convinced  will  take  place, 
if  the  Bill  of  Lord  Stanhope  pass  into  a  law  ;  but, 
as  I  said  before,  if  the  Lords  like  it,  nobody  else  can 
possibly  have  a  right  to  interfere.  They  may,  sure- 
ly, do  what  they  please  with  their  own  property.  All 


346  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

that  I  wish  to  stipulate  for  is,  that  we  Jacobins  and 
Levellers  shall  never  be  accused  of  this  act  of  dis- 
tributing the  lands  and  houses  of  the  rich  amongst 
those  who  are  not  rich  ;  that  we  shall  not  be  accused 
of  this  great  act  of  pulling  down,  and  raising  up. 
Hume  remarked,  that  the  funding  system,  in  the 
space  of  500  years,  would  cause  the  posterity  of 
those  now  in  the  coaches,  and  of  those  upon  the 
boxes,  to  change  places  ;  but,  if  this  bill  of  LORD 
STANHOPE  pass,  this  change  will  be  a  thing  of  much 
quicker  operation. 

I  shall  be  told,  that  Lord  King's  example  would 
have  operated  even  more  quickly  than  this  measure, 
in  destroying  the  paper.  Granted.  It  would,  there 
is  no  doubt,  have  produced,  in  a  very  short  time,  that 
which  must  have  totally  destroyed  the  paper  sys- 
tem, root  and  branch,  namely,  TWO  PRICES, 
against  which,  openly  and  generally  adopted,  no 

Eaper-money  ever  did,  or  ever  can,  stand  for  any 
>ngth  of  time.  That  that  example  would  have 
been  generally,  nay  universally,  followed,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  at  all,  for,  no  man  voluntarily  gives 
away  his  rents,  or,  rather,  lets  another  withhold  them 
from  him.  Some  persons  would  have  been  a  little 
shy  at  first ;  but,  when  they  found  that  others  did  it, 
they  would  have  got  over  their  shyness,  and  the  de- 
mand would  have  been  universally  made.  Thus, 
then,  the  TWO  PRICES  would  have  been  estab- 
lished ;  and  the  gold  and  silver,  finding  that  they  could 
pass  current  for  their  real  worth,  would  have  come 
forth  from  their  hiding  places,  some,  while  the  rest 
would  have  hastened  back  from  abroad.  "  Surely  !" 
say  you :  "  why  then,  are  the  Government  alarmed 
at  the  effect  of  Lord  King's  example,  if  it  would 
bring  back  gold  and  silver  into  circulation?"  Oh! 
there  is  good  reason  for  their  alarm ;  for,  observe, 
THE  TAXES  WOULD  CONTINUE  TO  BE 
PAID  IN  PAPER  !  When  the  tax-gatherer  come 
to  the  door  of  one  of  you,  for  instance,  you  would,  if 
you  had  only  gold  or  silver  in  the  house,  beg  him  tu 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD,  347 

call  the  next  morning,  or  to  sit  down  a  bit,  while  you, 
with  your  gold,  would  go  and  purchase  paper-money 
sufficient  to  pay  him  the  amount  of  his  demand !  There 
needs  no  more  to  convince  you  that  the  Government 
has  good  reason  for  alarm  at  the  prospect  of  seeing 
Lord  King's  example  followed,  as  it  assuredly  would 
be,  if  there  were  no  law  to  prevent  it.  In  short,  that 
example  would  annihilate  the  paper  system  in  a  year. 
The  next  Letter  will  close  the  series.  In  the  mean 
while,  I  remain, 

Gentlemeny 

Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 
Friday,  ffl,  July,  1811. 


LETTER  XXVI. 


"  It  is  not  that  the  nionei/  which  the  Public  Creditor  receives,  as  interest  for 
his  capital,  is  less  than  it  used  to  be  ;  it  is  that  the  quantity  of  goods  he 
receives  tor  his  money  is  less ;  and  he  will  be  still  receiving  less  and 
less,  while  your  taxes  will  be  rising  more  and  more.  If  the  next  Admi- 
nistration" (Addington  was  just  at  this  time  coming  into  power  in  p  ace 
of  Pitt)  "mean  to  go  on  like  the  last,  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  the 
country  if  no  man  would  lend  them  a  groat.  Let  them  ta~:e  three  fourths 
of  a  man's  int-rr^st,  or  property,  from  him,  and  take  off  the  taxes,  and 
the  people  would  be  doubly  gainers.  If  you  reduce  the  National  Debt,  we 
may  laugh  and  sing  at  home,  and  bid  defiance  to  all  the  world ;  if  you 
do  not  reduce  it,  the  consequence  will  be,  that,  instead  of  paying  the  Na- 
tional Creditor  120  quartern  loaves  for  a  years  interest  of  his  loot,  you 
will  go  on.  till  you  only  pay  him  2  or  3  quartern  loaves.  Depend  upon  it 
that  it  will  be  the  fate  of  the  National  Creditor."— Mr.  Home  Tooke'9 
Speech,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  2d  March,  1801. 


Mr.  Home  Tooke  and  the  Reformers — Effect  of  Lord  King's 
Example — Two  prices — How  these  would  affect  the  Go- 
vernment, the  Generals,  the  Judges,  the  Sinecure  Place- 
men and  Pensioners— Lord  Mornington's  Speech  in  1794— 
Progress  of  the  Assignats  in  France — Mr.  Perceval's  Speech 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  6th  July,  1811. 

GENTLEMEN, 

LOOK  at  the  motto  !  Look  at  the  motto ;  and,  es- 
pecially, if  any  of  you  should  unfortunately  be  fund- 
holders  !  in  that  case,  let  me  beseech  you  to  look  at 


348  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  motto.  They  are  the  words  of  a  very  wise  man. 
They  were  spoken,  you  see,  rather  more  than  ten 
years  ago.  The  speaker  was  laughed  at  by  some, 
and  railed  at  by  others ;  but,  I  imagine,  that,  at  this 
time,  those,  who  then  laughed,  are  more  disposed  to 
cry,  though  I  by  no  means  suppose,  that  the  railers 
have  ceased,  or  ever  will  cease  their  railing,  as  long 
as  they  have  tongues  or  pens  wherewith  to  rail.  The 
House  of  Commons  passed  an  Act  which,  for  the 
future,  excluded  Mr.  Tooke,  soon  after  he  made  this 
speech.  They  did  so  upon  the  ground  of  his  being 
a  Clergyman  in  Holy  Orders.  No  matter  :  they  got 
rid  of  him  for  the  future  ;  but,  they  have  not  got  rid 
of  the  event  that  he  foretold.  Oh,  no !  that  is  coming 
upon  them  in  spite  of  all  their  triumphs  over  Mr. 
TOOKE,  and  Mr.  PAINE,  and  Messrs.  Mum,  PALMER, 
MARGAROT,  GERALD,  WINTERBOTTOM,  GILBERT  WAKE- 
FIELD,  and  many  others.  The  Government  beat  all 
these  reformers ;  they  not  only  put  them  down ;  they 
not  only  ruined  the  greater  part  of  them ;  but  they 
succeeded  in  making  the  nation  believe  that  such 
ruin  was  just.  Well!  The  Government  and  the 
nation  will  now,  of  course,  not  pretend,  that  the  pre- 
sent events  have  sprung  from  the  Jacobins  and  Re- 
formers. Mr.  TOOKE  told  them  to  reduce  the  Na- 
tional Debt.  They  rejected  his  advice.  They  des- 
pised his  warning.  They  kept  him,  for  the  future, 
out  of  Parliament.  Well !  Let  them,  then,  not 
blame  him  for  what  has  since  happened,  and  what 
is  now  coming  to  pass. 

I  beg  you,  Gentlemen,  to  reflect  well  on  these 
observations  ;  for,  such  reflection  will  be  very  useful 
in  preventing  you  from  being  deceived  in  future,  and 
will  enable  you,  when  the  utmost  of  the  evil  comes, 
to  ascertain  who  are  the  men  who  have  been  THE 
AUTHORS  OF  THE  EVIL,  arid  to  whom,  ac- 
cordingly, you  ought  to  look  for  a  just  RESPONSI- 
BILITY. But,  upon  this  vital  part  of  the  subject 
I  have  some  hints  to  offer  to  you  hereafter :  at  pre- 
sent I  must  return  for  a  while,  to  the  point  where  I 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  349 

broke  off  in  my  last  Letter,  namely,  the  reason  for 
the  alarm  of  the  Government  at  the  prospect  of  see- 
ing Lord  King's  example  followed. 

I  spoke  of  the  TWO  PRICES  before  ;  but,  let 
me  say  a  few  more  words  upon  that  very  interesting 
part  of  our  subject.  Two  prices  have  always  proved 
the  death  of  paper-money.  In  this  case  it  would 
have  been  the  same,  and,  in  the  end,  it  will  still  be 
the  same ;  for,  the  Bill  of  Lord  Stanhope  can  do  no 
more  than  retard  the  event  for  six  or  nine  months, 
and  mind,  I  tell  you  this  with  as  much  confidence  as 
I  would  venture  to  foretel  the  arrival  of  Christmas 
day.  I  do  not  say,  that  the  event  will  come  in  six 
or  nine  months ;  but  I  say,  that  this  Bill  will  not 
keep  it  off  for  a  greater  length  of  time  than  that.  If 
TWO  PRICES  were  generally  made,  we  should 
see  the  gold  and  silver  back  into  circulation  immedi- 
ately ;  but,  none  of  it  could  get  to  the  Bank,  because 
no  man  would  pay  his  TAXES  in  gold  and  silver. 
Consequently  the  fund-holder  and  the  Government 
would  be  paid  in  paper,  while  gold  and  silver  would 
be  circulating  amongst  all  the  rest  of  the  community. 
As  soon  as  there  are  two  prices,  the  paper  must  de- 
preciate at  an  enormous  rate ;  and  as  the  Govern- 
ment would  have  to  pay  its  contractors  and  others 
whose  pay  was  not  fixed,  in  this  depreciated  paper, 
it  must  have  a  greater  quantity  of  that  paper,  and 
it  must  come  from  the  Bank.  It  is  so  easy  to  see  how 
this  must  work ;  how  rapidly  it  must  go  on ;  how 
soon  it  must  render  the  paper  worth  little  more  than 
its  weight  in  rags  j  all  this  is  so  easy  to  see,  that  I 
will  not  suppose  any  one  of  you  so  very  dull  as  not 
to  perceive  it. 

The  Government,  with  nothing  but  paper  at  its 
command,  would  soon  begin  to  feel  somewhat  like  a 
person  who  has  taken  a  powerful  emetic.  The  big 
round  drops  of  sweat  would  stand  upon  its  forehead  ; 
its  knees  would  knock  together ;  it  would  look  pale  as 
a  ghost ;  an  universal  feebleness  would  seize  it.  That 
to  say,  all  this  would  take  place,  if  the  Govern- 
30 


350  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ment  persevered  in  the  Pitt  system,  and  that  it  would 
do  so,  who  can  doubt  after  what  we  have  seen  during 
the  last  twenty  years.  If  the  TWO  PRICES  were 
openly  made,  and  became  general,  as  they,  in  all 
probability,  would,  in  the  course  of  six  or  eight 
months,  the  paper  would  fall  so  low  as  that  5,  or, 


jvernrnent, 

its  way  ;  the  Generals  and  Judges  and  others,  having 
a  fixed  pay,  would,  indeed,  still  be  paid  as  they 
were  before,  and,  of  course,  the  Government  would 
lose  nothing  by  taking  paper  as  far  as  this  description 
of  expense  went ;  for,  you  will  observe,  that  I  hold 
it  to  be  impossible,  that  the  parties  I  have  just  men- 
tioned, namely,  the  Generals,  the  Judges,  the  Tax- 
Commissioners,  and  the  like ;  I  hold  it  to  be  impos- 
sible, that  these  men  should  not  all  of  them  be  ex- 
cessively happy  to  take  the  paper-money,  though  at 
a  hundred  for  one,  seeing  that  the  greater  the  degree 
of  depreciation,  the  finer  the  opportunity  for  them  to 
give  proofs  of  their  devotion  to  public  credit.  But, 
though  my  Lords  the  Judges,  and  Lord  Arden  and 
Lord  Buckinghamshire  and  Lord  Liverpool  and  Lord 
Bathurst  and  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham  and  Lord 
Camden  and  Old  George  Rose  and  Mr.  Canning  and 
my  neighbour  the  Apothecary  General  and  Lord 
Kenyon  and  Lady  Louisa  Paget,  and,  indeed,  the 
hundreds  of  those  who  h&ve  fixed  sums  paid  them  by 
the  Government  out  of  money  raised  upon  the  peo- 
ple, whether  in  the  shape  of  salary,  sinecure,  or  pen- 
sion ;  though  all  these  persons  would,  I  dare  say, 
from  motives  of  public  spirit,  cheerfully  continue  to 
take  the  paper  till  a  pound  of  it  would  not  purchase 
a  pinch  of  snuff;  still,  there  would  be  some  things 
and  some  services  that  must  be  paid  for  in  money, 
or  they  would  not  be  obtained.  Beef  and  Pork  and 
Biscuit  could  not  be  bought  without  real  money. 
These  are  commodities  that  do  not  move  without  an 
equivalent.  Whether  the  soldiers  would  be  paid, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  351 

under  such  circumstances,  in  paper  so  much  reduced 
in  value,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  say,  and  will  leave 
the  point  to  be  settled  by  those  who  have  lately  said 
so  much  about  this  useful  and  numerous  class  of  ac- 
tive citizens.  But,  one  thing  is  certain  :  that  THEY 
must  be  paid  in  a  kind  of  money  that  will  purchase 
eatables.  They  have  bargained  to  receive  a  certain 
sum  per  day;  and,  if  the  same  should  not  purchase 
half  so  much  beer  or  beef  as  it  does  now,  the  bar- 
gain will  not  be  so  good  a  one  as  it  is  now ;  though, 
observe,  I  am  not  supposing,  that  there  would  not  be 
found  public  spirit  enough  amongst  the  soldiers  to 
make  them  take  the  paper  in  preference  to  gold.  At 
any  rate,  this  is  a  matter  which  belongs  exclusively 
to  those  who  have  the  management  of  our  affairs,  and 
who  are  paid  very  well  for  such  management. 

It  would  be  useless  to  extend  our  remarks  here. 
It  is  as  clear  as  day-light,  that  whenever  TWO 
PRICES  shall  be  generally  established,  the  death 
of  the  paper  is  at  hand,  and  indeed,  the  death  of  the 
funding  system;  because,  owing  to  the  rapidity  of 
the  depreciation,  the  fund-holders,  our  poor  friend 
GRIZZLE  GREENHORN,  and  all  the  rest  of  them,  would 
soon  be  in  the  situation  described  by  Mr.  HORNE 
TOOKE,  in  the  passage  taken  for  my  motto ;  that  is  to 
say,  a  hundred  pounds  of  their  stock  would  yield 
them  a  couple  or  three  quartern  loaves  in  the  year; 
and,  it  is  within  the  compass  of  possibility,  that 
many  persons,  who  are  now  enabled  to  ride  in  their 
coaches  by  incomes  derived  from  the  funds,  may  end 
their  days  as  paupers  or  beggars.  In  short,  it  is  quite 
impossible  for  any  man  of  common  sense  not  to  per- 
ceive, that  the  establishment  of  TWO  PRICES 
would  put  an  end,  in  a  short  time,  not  only  to  the 
property  of  the  fund-holders,  but  to  the  sinecures 
and  pensions,  and  also  to  great  numbers  of  other 
emoluments  derived  from  the  public  revenue.  Put 
an  end  to  all  for  a  time  at  least,  and  subjecting  them 
to  an  after  revision. 

If  we  are  of  opinion3  that  this  effect  would  have 


352  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

been  produced  by  tbe  example  of  Lord  King  being 
followed,  there  is,  I  think,  little  room  for  wonder, 
that  the  ministers  were  alarmed  at  the  prospect.  I 
know  it  will  be  said,  and  with  perfect  truth,  that,  in 
time,  the  same  effect  will  be  produced  by  Lord  Stan- 
hope's Bill ;  but,  supposing  it  to  be  produced  full  as 
soon  by  the  Bill,  it  does  not  follow,  that  the  minis- 
ters perceive  that.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  seem, 
that  they  do  not  perceive  it  at  all ;  and,  it  is  evident, 
that  they  have  a  sort  of  vague  notion,  that  the  Bill 
will  stay  the  depreciation.  I  am  convinced,  that  it 
will  not;  I  am  convinced,  that  it  will  hasten  the  de- 
preciation, and  though  not  quite  so  fast  as  the  exam- 
ple of  Lord  King  would,  still  that,  in  the  end,  the 
effect  will  be  the  same.  But  the  ministers  could,  in 
the  one  case,  see  the  effect ;  in  the  other  they  appear 
not  to  have  seen  it ;  and,  this  is  quite  sufficient  to 
account  for  their  giving  their  support  to  the  Bill. 

I  said  before,  Gentlemen,  that  this  Bill  was  the 
first  of  a  series  of  measures,  the  object  of  which 
would  be  to  keep  up  the  paper  by  the  force  of  law. 
This  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of  all  those  who  have 
opposed  it  in  the  House  of  Peers :  that  it  is  merely 
a  step  in  the  old  beaten  path  of  keeping  up,  by  the 
arm  of  power,  a  depreciated  paper-currency.  This 
course  has  been  before  pursued,  in  other  countries, 
and  it  has,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  led  to  the  same 
end ;  the  total  destruction  of  the  paper.  Each  ot 
the  Colonies,  now  moulded  into  an  united  nation  in 
America,  had  its  debt,  its  paper-money,  its  legal 
tenders,  and  its  public  bankruptcy,  before  their  se- 
paration from  England,  and  even  before  the  revolu 
tionary  quarrel  began.  But,  it  was  in  France,  where 
the  thing  was  performed  upon  a  grand  scale ;  and, 
by  taking  a  view  somewhat  more  close  than  we  have 
hitherto  done,  of  the  progress  of  the  measures  in 
France,  we  shall  be  able  more  correctly  to  judge  of 
the  tendency  of  what  is  now  going  on  here. 

There  are  divers  histories  of  what  was  done  in 
France,  relative  to  the  assignats;  but  I  choose  to 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  353 

take  for  my  authority  one  of  the  present  Ministers. 
The  Marquis  WELLESLEY,  when  he  was  Lord  MORN- 
INGTON,  made  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
which  was  afterwards  published  in  a  pamphlet,  or 
rather  book,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  all  the 
pranks  played  with  the  assignats  in  France,  up  to 
the  time  of  his  making  the  speech,  which  was  on  the 
21st  of  January.  1794,  just  three  years  and  a  month 
before  the  then  ministry,  whom  he  supported,  issued 
an  Order  in  Council  to  protect  the  Bank  of  England 
against  the  demands  of  cash  for  their  notes. 

In  this  memorable  speech,  manifestly  drawn  up 
for  the  purpose  of  exciting  horror  in  the  people  of 
England  at  the  wickedness  of  the  French  Rulers  re- 
lative to  the  assignats,  and  also  to  make  the  people 
believe,  that  the  state  of  the  assignats  must  prove  the 
overthrow  of  France  ;  in  this  memorable  speech,  not 
only  facts  are  stated,  but  principles  and  maxims  of 
finance  are  laid  down.  We  will  take  a  cursory  view 
of  them  all ;  for  time,  which  tries  every  thing,  has 
now  brought  us  into  a  state  to  judge  correctly  of 
those  facts,  principles,  and  maxims. 

Lord  Wellesley  told  the  House  of  Commons,  that 
the  rulers  of  France  were  very  wicked,  but  that  they 
were  not  less  foolish,  than  wicked  ;  that  their  igno- 
rance was,  at  least,  equal  to  their  villany,  though  the 
latter  was  surprisingly  great.  He  said,  that  "  the 
French  Revolutionary  Government,  in  order  to  sup- 
ply an  extravagant  expenditure,  had  recourse,  at 
first,  to  increasing  the  mass  of  paper-money  ;  and, 
that  they  declared,  that  they  had  no  other  means  oj 
sustaining  the  pressure  of  the  war,  than  by  the 
creation  of  an  additional  quantity  of  assignats." 
There,  is  then,  nothing  original  in  the  declarations 
of  Lord  Liverpool,  and  Perceval  and  Rose.  Nothing 
new  in  their  recent  assertions,  that  it  was  the  paper- 
money  that  enabled  them  to  provide  for  the  defence 
of  the  kingdom,  to  make  such  great  exertions  against 
the  "  enemy  of  the  human  race,"  to  gain  such  victo- 
ries in  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  to  add  such  glories 
30 


354  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

to  the  English  name !  This  was  all  very  fine  and 
full  of  comfort ;  but,  as  you  now  see,  Gentlemen, 
there  was  nothing  new  in  it.  The  same  thing  had 
been  said  before  by  the  revolutionary  rulers  of 
France  ;  the  same  thing  had  been  said  by  Danton 
and  Robespierre  and  their  associates,  in  praise  of 
the  revolutionary  money  of  France. 

The  ministers  have  frequently  denied  that  the  coin 
of  the  country  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  standard  of  value. 
Rose  and  Lord  Westmoreland,  and  several  others  of 
them,  have  denied,  that  the  Bank  notes  ought  to  be 
looked  upon  as  depreciated,  merely  because  they 
would  not  go  for  the  same  quantity  of  gold  as  for- 
merly ;  and  the  hireling  writers  have  taken  infinite 
pains  to  decry  and  run  down  the  gold  and  silver 
coin.  One  of  them  calls  guineas  an  incumbrance; 
another  says,  that  gold  and  silver  are  merely  articles 
of  traffic,  and  that  the  Bank  notes  are  the  only 
money  fitting  the  country ;  another  has  said,  that, 
were  it  not  for  the  National  Debt,  the  patronage, 
and  the  paper-money,  the  Government  could  have 
no  existence,  and  that  the  Bank  notes  offer  to  the 
government  a  most  indestructible  support,  because 
they  make  the  daily  bread  of  every  individual  de- 
pend upon  the  Government ;  and  another  has  said, 
that  Bank  paper  is  the  best  bond  of  individual  and 
public  security,  and  the  only  medium  of  currency  to 
suit  and  exert  the  energies  of  an  insular  and  com- 
mercial people  ! 

What  a  similarity  between  this  language  and  the 
language  of  the  Rulers  of  France  in  favour  of  their 
assi gnats  !  They  called  them,  as  Lord  Wellesley 
said  in  his  speech,  revolutionary  money  ;  their  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  said,  that  it  was  a  happy 
thing  for  the  people  to  have  Republican  assi  gnats 
instead  of  pieces  of  metal  bearing  the  effigy  of  ty- 
rants ;  that  the  whole  nation  despised  the  corrupt- 
ing metals,  and  that  he  would  soon  find  a  way  of 
driving  back  the  vile  dung  into  the  bowels  of  the 
earth.  In  another  part  of  his  speech,  Lord  Welles- 


I^H  .  11     .1 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  -          355 


ley  tells  us,  that  people  were  imprisoned  and  pun- 
ished for  their  contempt  of  assignats. 

Nevertheless,  the  people  of  France  had,  it  seems, 
still  an  unnatural  hankering  after  gold  and  silver  in 
preference  to  assignats  ;  and  they  did,  in  fact,  make 
TWO  PRICES  ;  the  consequence  of  which  was 
an  enormous  rise  in  the  price  of  all  the  necessaries 
of  life,  the  proprietors  of  which  were  reviled  as  ene- 
mies of  the  country,  and,  as  such,  many  hundreds  of 
them  were  put  to  death.  This,  however,  was  not 
sufficient  to  put  a  stop  to  the  rise  of  prices,  and,  in- 
deed, did  not  check  it  at  all.  Then  came  the  law  of 
of  MAXIMUM,  (as  it  will  in  England  if  the  present 
course  be  pursued,)  fixing  the  highest  price  at  which 
any  of  the  necessaries  of  life  should  be  sold,  and  at 
which  men  should  work  and  render  services.  This 
terrible  law,  Lord  Wellesley  tells  us,  had  nearly- 
starved  the  whole  nation ;  for  the  farmers  would  not 
bring  their  produce  to  market,  and  tradesmen  kept 
their  goods  locked  up.  Then,  he  tells  us,  that  these 
persons  were  pursued  as  monopolists  ;  and  thus,  said 
Lord  Wellesley,  "  every  farmer  whose  barns  and  gra- 
naries are  not  empty  ;  every  merchant  and  tradesman 
whose  warehouse  or  shop  is  not  entirely  unprovided 
with  goods,  must  be  subject  to  the  charge  of  mono- 
poly. This  crime  is  punished  differently,  accord- 
ing to  the  enormity  of  the  case ;  but,  most  frequently 
the  punishment  is  death."  So  that  it  is  time  for  far- 
mers and  tradesmen  to  look  about  them,  and  espe- 
cially the  farmers ;  who,  if  they  do  not  already  see 
the  danger  of  their  landlord's  property  being  with- 
held from  him,  will,  perhaps  be  more  clear-sighted 
when  their  own  natural  fate  is  pointed  out.  They 
hear  LORD  KING  accused  of  black  malignity  ;  they 
hear  him  charged  with  selfishness ;  they  hear  him 
classed  along  with  pedlers  and  Jews.  This  was, 
as  Lord  Wellesley  tells  us,  precisely  the  language 
which  Danton  and  Robespierre  and  their  underlings 
made  use  of  towards  the  people  of  property  in  France, 
who  had  a  "  contempt  for  assignats.''  They  were 


356  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

accused  of  incivism  ;  they  were  called  egotist,  and 
were,  in  almost  the  very  words  in  which  LORD  KING 
is  now  arraigned  by  the  COURIER,  told  that  they 
" committed  a  robbery  against  the  RIGHTS  OF 
SOCIETY!"  And,  this  is  what  the  people  or 
England  are  told,  observe,  after  eighteen  years  of 
war,  after  eighteen  years  of  blood  and  taxation,  in 
order,  as  they  were  promised,  to  preserve  their  coun- 
try from  what  they  saw  going  on  in  France  ! 

"  But  our  paper  is  at  par,"  say  some  of  the  PITT- 
ITES still ;  "  Our  paper  is  not  depreciated."  So  they 
said  in  France.  Yes,  said  Lord  WELLESLEY,  "  the 
French  minister  of  Finance  has  boasted,  that  his  as- 
signats  are  at  par  ;  but,  the  laws  which  have  been 
passed  for  punishing  with  long  imprisonment  any 
person  who  takes,  gives,  or  offers  assignats  under 
par,  sufficiently  account  for  this  circumstance." 
Good  God  !  It  would  really  seem,  that  every  saying 
is  to  come  home  to  us !  that  upon  our  devoted  heads 
are  to  be  visited  all  that  was  felt,  and,  which  is  more, 
perhaps,  all  that  was,  by  our  rulers,  said  to  be  felt, 
by  the  people  of  France :  aye,  it  really  would  seem, 
that  all,  that  all,  to  the  very  letter,  is  now  to  come 
home  to  the  people  of  England,  who  were  led  to 
build  their  hopes  of  success  and  of  safety  upon  the 
ruin  of  the  people,  or  at  least,  the  Government  of 
France  !  This  very  Bill  now  under  discussion,  will 
impose  a  penalty,  whether  of  imprisonment  or  not 
I  do  not  yet  know,  upon  any  person,  who  takes,  or 
gives,  or  offers,  bank  notes  under  par.  The  prohi- 
bition was  made  in  the  Lords,  and  the  Minister  has 
said,  that  he  means  to  add  the  penalty  ! 

Let  us  now  look,  then,  at  the  contrast  which 
Lord  WELLESLEY  drew,  upon  that  memorable  occa- 
sion, between  the  situation  of  England  and  that  of 
France.  "  From  this  disgusting  scene,"  said  he. 
"  let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  our  own  situation.  Here 
the  contrast  is  striking  in  all  its  parts.  Here  we  see 
nothing  of  the  character  and  genius  of  ARBI- 
TRARY FINANCE;  none  of  the  bold  frauds  of 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  357 

bankrupt  power :  none  of  the  wild  struggles  and 
plunges  of  despotism  in  distress ;  no  lopping  off  from 
the  capital  of  the  debt ;  no  suspension  of  interest  ; 
no  robbery  under  the  name  of  loan  ;  NO  RAISING 
THE  VALUE,  no  DEBASING  THE  SUB- 
STANCE of  THE  COIN.  Here  we  behold  pub- 
lic credit,  of  every  description,  rising  under  all  the 
disadvantages  of  a  general  war;  an  ample  revenue, 
flowing /reefy  and  copiously  from  the  opulence  of  a 
contented  people." 

Gentlemen,  read  this  with  attention ;  and,  when 
you  have  so  done,  draw  yourselves  the  contrast  which 
the  situation  of  England  now  presents  with  that  of 
France !  It  is  a  fact  perfectly  notorious,  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  paper  money  in  France  ;  it  is 
also  notorious,  that  not  only  does  France  abound  in 
gold  coin,  but  that  the  coin  of  this  country,  the 
guineas  of  England,  are  now  gone  and  are  daily 
going  to  France ;  aye,  to  that  same  country,  which 
was  to  be  ruined  and  overcome  and  subdued  by  the 
failure  of  its  finance  !  This  speech  of  Lord  Welles- 
ley,  and  all  the  numerous  other  speeches  of  the  same 
description,  were  intended  for  the  purpose  of  gaining 
the  people's  concurrence  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
Anti-Jacobin  war,  which  war,  by  adding  Jive  hun- 
dred millions  sterling  to  our  Debt,  has  produed  the 
fruit  of  which  we  are  now  about  to  taste.  Year 
after  year  the  same  means  were  made  use  of  for  the 
same  purpose,  and  with  similar  success.  At  the 
opening  of  the  Session  of  Parliament,  in  October, 
1796,  PITT  himself  told  the  Honourable  House, 
that,  in  his  conscience,  he  believed,  that,  with  finan- 
ces so  dilapidated,  the  French  would  not  be  able 
to  stand  out  another  campaign  !  "  This  DEPRE- 
CIATION of  the  Assignats,"  said  he,  "  is  so  severely 
felt,  that  it  has  been  repeatedly  admitted,  that  means 
must  be  found  to  employ  resources  less  wasteful. 
This  principle  has  been  recognised  by  every  finan- 
cier or  statesman.  Even  at  the  period  when  the  de- 
preciation was  only  one  half,  it  was  declared,  that 


358  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

unless  some  immediate  remedy  was  applied,  they 
would  be  unable  to  maintain  their  armies.  Months 
have  since  elapsed,  and  no  substitute  has  been  em- 
ployed. Resources  thus  strained  to  their  utmost 
fitch,  and  incapable  of  any  renovation,  must  have 
in  themselves  the  seeds  of  decay,  and  the  cause  of 
inevitable  dissolution" 

This,  Gentlemen,  was  PITT'S  reasoning  as  applied 
to  France.  Little  did  that  presumptuous  and  shal- 
low man  dream  that,  in  less  than  four  months  from 
that  very  day,  he  was  doomed  to  come  into  that  same 
House  of  Commons,  and  from  the  same  spot  where  he 
then  stood,  announce  that  the  Bank  of  England  was 
no  longer  able  to  pay  its  notes  in  the  coin  of  the 
realm,  and  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  a  violation  of 
the  law  in  issuing  an  order  of  Council  to  guarantee 
the  Bank  Company  against  the  consequences  of  re- 
fusing to  pay  the  debts  due  to  their  creditors !  J3ut, 
as  if  this  were  not  enough,  he  must,  in  the  speech 
just  referred  to,  comment  upon  certain  metallic 
money  then,  it  was  said,  about  to  be  issued  in  France. 
"  Metallic  pieces,"  said  he,  "  are,  it  seems,  to  be  put 
in  circulation  ;  but  it  is  not  said,  whether  these  are 
to  be  of  the  DENOMINATED  VALUE  :  if  not  so 
they  are  only  METALLIC  ASSIGNATS  !"— Yet 
this  same  minister,  who  has  been  impudently  called 
"the  great  Statesman  now  no  more,"  had,  in  a 
short  time  afterwards,  to  propose  to  this  same  House 
cf  Commons,  to  sanction  the  issuing  of  Dollars  at 
4s.  and  9rf.  the  real  value  of  which  was  4s.  ±%d. ;  he 
lived  long  enough  to  propose  to  the  same  House  of 
Commons,  to  give  its  sanction  to  an  issue  of  dollars 
at  5s. ;  if  he  had  lived  till  now,  (I  always  regret  that 
he  did  not !)  he  would  have  seen  the  Dollar  at  5s.  Qd. 
And,  what  he  would  have  seen  it  at,  if  he  had  lived 
till  a  few  years  hence,  I  must  leave  TIME,  the  trier 
of  all  things,  the  rewarder  of  all  good  deeds,  and  the 
avenger  of  all  injuries,  to  say. 

You  will  now  be  able  to  judge  how  far  our  situa- 
tion, in  respect  to  paper-money,  resembles  that  of 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  359 

France  at  the  time  when  the  revolutionary  rulers  of 
that  country  were  endeavouring  to  keep  up  the  Assig- 
nats  by  the  arm  of  the  law,  by  the  terrors  of  the  jail 
and  the  guillotine.  Mr.  PERCEVAL  says,  that  there 
is  ?io  resemblance  whatever  between  the  bank  notes 
and  the  assignats.  I  shall  show  you,  that  Mr.  Per- 
ceval is  deceived  ;  that  he  does  not  understand  this 
matter  ;  and  that,  if  he  had  read  the  works  of  PAINE, 
at  the  time  when  his  colleague  Lord  Eldon  (then 
Attorney  General)  was  prosecuting  the  author,  he 
would  not  have  hazarded  any  such  assertion. 

But,  we  must  now  take  a  look  at  the  whole  of  this 
speech  of  Mr.  Perceval.  I  mean  his  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  on  Tuesday  last,  the  9th  in- 
stant, upon  the  first  reading  of  Lord  Stanhope's  Bill 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  This  speech  will  be  a 
memorable  one.  The  child  yet  unborn  will  have 
cause  to  think  of  this  speech,  and  of  the  series  of 
measures,  of  which,  as  appears  to  me,  it  is  the  ne- 
cessary forerunner. 

Mr.  Perceval  (I  have  the  report  of  his  speech  as 
given  in  the  COURIER)  began  by  stating  his  reasons 
for  having  come  round  to  the  support  of  Lord  Stan- 
hope's Bill,  after  having,  at  first,  disapproved  of  it. 
He  says,  that  he,  at  first,  thought  it  unnecessary, 
because  he  did  not  think,  that  any  body  would  fol- 
low the  example  of  Lord  King ;  but,  that  finding  that 
it  was  likely  that  the  example  would  be  followed, 
he  then  thought  it  necessary  to  support  the  bill. 
Thus,  then,  at  any  rate,  it  has  been  one  individual 
who  has  caused  this  Bill ;  the  Bill  is  made  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  that  individual  and  others 
from  obtaining  in  payment  of  rent  what  the  law 
now  authorizes  them  to  demand  ;  it  is  a  Bill,  in  fact, 
which,  against  the  will  of  one  of  the  parties  at  least, 
alters  contracts  made  years  ago.  Yes,  says  Mr. 
Perceval,  it  does  so;  but,'  the  same  was  done  in 
1797  !  That  is  the  answer.  Because  the  thing  was 
done  by  Pitt,  he  may  do  it !  He  said,  that,  until 
now,  this  preference  for  coin  before  paper  had  been 


360  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

shown  by  none  but  Pedlers^  Jews,  and  Smugglers  ; 
and,  in  speaking,  afterwards,  about  the  possibility 
of  the  Bill  being  inefficient,  and  a  legal  tender  being 
necessary,  he  said  that,  u  he  did,  however,  hope,  that 
the  ODIUM  attaching  to  the  conduct  which  gave 
rise  to  this  Bill,  WOULD  PREVENT  OTHERS 
FROM  FOLLOWING  THE  EXAMPLE."— 
These  are  memorable  words,  especially  considering 
from  whom  they  came. — Aye,  aye !  I  know  well 
what  workings  of  mind  there  must  have  been  before 
they  were  uttered.  I  would  not  have  such  workings 
in  my  mind  for  ten  times  the  worth  of  the  reversion 
of  Lord  Arden's  sinecure.  Oh  !  a  time  is  coming, 
when  all  these  things  will  be  seen  and  felt  as  they 
ought  to  be. 

But,  let  us  return  to  this  memorable  expression, 
"  the  ODIUM  !" — A  man,  then,  is,  it  seems,  to  incur 
odium  if  he  demands  his  due  ;  his  due  in  equity  as 
well  as  in  law  !  Gentlemen,  you  are,  for  the  most 
part,  tenants ;  but,  take  care  how  you  suffer  your- 
selves to  be  led  to  wish  for  any  advantage  from  this 
Bill,  which  will  most  assuredly  operate,  in  the  end, 
to  your  injury,  and,  perhaps,  to  your  utter  ruin. 
Let  me  explain  to  you,  a  little  more  fully  than  I  have 
hitherto  done,  the  nature  of  Lord  King's  demand 
upon  his  tenants.  He  let  a  farm,  for  instance,  in 
1802,  to  JOHN  STILES  for  £100  a  year,  in  good  and 
lawful  money  of  the  realm.  He  has  until  now, 
continued  to  take  the  £100  a  year  in  bank  notes ; 
but  now  he  finds,  that  those  notes  are  so  far  from 
being  good  and  lawful  money  of  the  realm,  that 
they  have  sunk  in  value  20  per  centum,  and  that  in- 
stead of  £100  he  would,  in  effect,  get  only  £80.  If, 
however,  the  thing  was  likely  to  stop  where  it  is,  he 
might  possibly  go  on  receiving  paper  to  the  end  of 
the  present  leases,  when  he  would  take  care  to  raise 
his  rent  of  course  ;  but,  the  thing  is  not  likely  to 
stop  ;  it  goes  regularly  on  ;  gold  is  purchased  up  ;  a 
guinea  sells  for  275.  6d.  And  is  it  not,  then,  time 
for  Lord  King  to  begin  to  protect  himself  against 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  361 

this  depreciation  ?  JOHN  STILES,  you  see,  suffers  no 
hardship  in  this,  because  he  raises  the  price  of  his 
corn  and  cattle  to  meet  the  effects  of  the  deprecia- 
tion. Suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  paper  has  de- 
preciated 20  per  centum,  or  five  pounds  in  every 
twenty,  since  1805  ;  and  suppose,  that  wheat  is  now 
25  pounds  a  load  ;  consequently,  it  will  require  only 
four  loads  of  wheat  to  pay  £100  now,  but  it  must 
have  required  Jive  loads  to  pay  £100  in  1802.  But, 
is  it  not  just  and  fair,  that  JOHN  STILES  should  give 
Lord  King  as  much  wheat  for  his  rent  in  1811  as  he 
contracted  to  give  him  in  1802  ?  If  he  does  not  do 
this,  and  if  the  paper  go  on  depreciating,  may  it  not 
come  to  pass,  that  JOHN  STILES  will  not  give  Lord 
King  more  than  a  bushel  of  wheat  in  a  year? 
Aye,  may  it ;  and  a  great  deal  sooner  too  than 
many  persons  seem  to  imagine.  And,  because  Lord 
King  wishes  to  avoid  this  ruin,  is  he  to  be  lumped 
along  with  Jews,  pedlers,  and  smugglers,  and  are 
we  to  be  told  of  the  odium  attaching  to  his  con- 
duct ? — However,  upon  this  head,  I  shall  always 
say,  for  my  part,  that  the  Lords  are  the  best  judges 
of  whether  they  or  their  tenants  are  likely  to  make 
the  best  use  of  the  rents ;  and,  if  they  like  to  give 
the  rents  to  the  tenants,  I  know  of  no  one  who  has 
any  right  to  find  fault  with  them. — They  and  the 
other  great  land-owners  appear  to  have  abundant 
confidence  in  Mr.  Perceval,  in  the  Bank,  and  in  the 
East  India  Company ;  and  the  Clergy  appear  to 
have  equal  confidence  in  them.  Well,  then  ;  I  really 
see  no  good  reason  that  we,  the  people  in  general, 
have  to  find  fault  with  what  is  going  on.  The  mat- 
ter seems,  I  think,  to  lie  wholly  between  the  land- 
owners and  this  little  sharp  gentleman  and  his  col- 
leagues ;  and  to  them  I  will  leave  it,  being  quite  satis- 
fied, that  the  former  are  now  about  enjoying  the  just 
reward  of  their  conduct  for  the  last  twenty-six  years. 
Mr.  Perceval  said,  that  those  who  supported  the 
Bank  Restriction  Act  in  1797,  were  inconsistent  in 
not  supporting  this  Bill ;  and  he  talked  a  great  deal 
31 


3b2  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

about  the  inconsistency  of  those  who  proposed,  the 
other  day,  to  continue  the  Restriction  lor  two  years 
longer.  With  these  matters,  Gentlemen,  WK  have 
nothing  to  do.  The  affair  is  all  their  own.  THEY 
made  the  war  that  produced  the  loans  that  produced 
the  paper  that  produced  the  run  that  produced  the 
stoppage  of  cash  payments  that  produced  the  de- 
preciation that  produced  the  sale  of  guineas  and 
thi'.  hoarding  and  exportation  of  them.  THEIR 
work  the  whole  of  it  is,  and  which  set  of  them  were 
first  at  it,  or  which  last,  is  of  no  consequence  to  us. 
They  have  it  all  amongst  them.  They  chose  the 
grounds  of  war,  and  the  time  for  beginning  ;  they 
put  down  all  those  who  opposed  them  ;  they  have 
been,  for  twenty-six  years,  the  rulers  of  the  country 
and  the  masters  of  all  its  resources.  One  set,  there- 
fore, is  and  ought  to  be,  just  the  same  as  the  other 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  Let  them  settle  the  mat- 
ter of  precedence  between  them  ;  let  them  bail  one 
another  as  long  as  they  please;  but  let  not  us  be,  by 
such  baiting,  amused  and  drawn  away  from  the  great 
points  ;tt  issue. 

The  "  object  of  the  Bill,"  Mr.  Perceval  said,  "was 
to  prevent  the  establishment  of  TWO  PRICES, 
which  must  be  the  case  if  Lord  King's  example 
were  generally  followed." — Now,  you  will  be  so 
good  as  to  bear  in  rnind,  Gentlemen,  that  this  is,  Mr. 
Perceval  says,  the  object  of  the  Bill ;  and,  I  beg  you 
also  to  bear  in  mind,  that  I  say,  that  in  this  object 
the  Bill  will  fail.  Here  we  are,  then,  I  and  the 
Minister,  foot  to  foot  in  opposition.  I  say  his  scheme 
will  not  prevent  the  TWO  PRICES.  I  say  it  will 
not:  he  says  that  such  is  its  object:  we  shall  sec 
who  is  right.  He  ought  to  be  ;  for,  I  am  sure,  he  is 
paid  money  enough  for  thinking  for  this  most  think- 
ing people  in  the  world.  He  did,  however,  confess, 
that  it  was  possible,  that  this  Bill  might  not  be  effi- 
cient;  and,  what  was  then  to  be  done?  WThy,  the 
bank  notes,  he  said,  must,  in  that  case,  he.  made  a 
legal  tender  I  Bravo !  Come :  toU  again  !  Once 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  363 


more,  and  then  comes  the  maximum!  I  always 
said,  that  it  would  be  thus.  I  always  said,  that  the 
moment  any  one  put  the  paper  money  to  the  test, 
the  paper  money  would  be  made  a  legal  tender. 
This  Bill  it  was  (but  I  do  not  believe  it  now  is)  be- 
lieved would  have  the  same  effect ;  but,  if  it  fail 
of  that  effect,  then  the  legal  tender  is,  it  seems,  to 
come. 

Mr.  Perceval  says,  that  this  may  become  neces- 
sary. For  what,  Mr.  Perceval  1  What  may  it  be- 
come necessary  for  ?  Necessary  to  do  what,  thou 
Minister  of  Finance  ?  Why,  you  will  say,  I  sup- 
pose, to  prevent  TWO  PRICES,  and  to  PRO- 
TECT THE  FUNDHOLDER.  And,  dost  thou 
really  think ;  dost  thou,  a  disciple  of  the  great 
statesman  now  no  more,  think,  in  good  earnest,  that 
a  legal  tender  law  would  prevent  two  prices  and 
protect  the  fundholder  ?  Forgive  me,  but  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  refrain  from  laughing  at  the  idea. 
You  will  say,  I  suppose,  that  it  is  "  no  laughing 
matter."  Cry  then,  if  you  like,  but  I  will  not ;  nor 
will  any  one  belonging  to  me.  But,  how  is  the  le- 
gal tender  to  prevent  TWO  PRICES  being  made? 
An  Act  of  Parliament  making  the  bank  notes  a  le- 
gal tender,  would  cause  debts  to  be  paid  in  paper ; 
but  it  could  not  make  the  butcher  or  the  baker  give 
their  meat  or  bread  for  bank  notes.  They  would 
and  they  must  and  they  will  have  two  prices  ;  a 
money  price,  and  a  paper  price ;  and  this  will  be- 
come general  in  spite  of  every  thing  that  can  be 
done  to  oppose  it.  What  protection  then,  will  the 
fundholder,  or,  "public  creditor"  as  he  is  called, 
derive  from  measures  like  these  ?  Mr.  Perceval  sup- 
poses a  case  (of  which  I  will  say  more  by-and-by) 
in  which  the  lundholder  of  £6,000  capital  rents  a 
house  of  £300  a  year,  and  says  that  it  would  be  ex- 
tremely hard,  if  this  man,  who  is  obliged  to  receive 
his  £300  a  year  from  the  Government  in  paper, 
were  to  be  left  exposed  to  the  compulsion  of  paying 
his  £300  a  year  rent  in  gold.  Where  is  the  hard- 


364  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ship,  if  bank  notes  are  as  good  as  gold?  Where  is 
the  hardship,  if  the  notes  have  not  depreciated  ? 
And  these  assertions  are  daily  and  hourly  made. 
But,  to  return  to  the  baker  and  butcher,  for  these  are 
the  lads  that  it  will  be  most  difficult  to  manage  ; 
what  will  this  fundholder  do  with  them?  How  will 
Mr.  Perceval  protect  him  against  them  ?  Why,  to 
be  sure,  he  will,  and  indeed,  consistently,  he  must, 
have  recourse  to  maximum.  And,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  here  to  explain  to  you,  farmers  and  trades- 
men, what  a  maximum  means  ;  for,  you  will  find  it 
a  matter  in  which  you  are  very  deeply  interested. 

They  had  a  maximum  in  France,  in  the  times  of 
depreciated  paper  money.  The  rulers  of  that  day, 
finding  the  assignats  depreciate  very  fast,  passed  a 
law  to  put  a  stop  to  the  depreciation,  which  only 
made  them  depreciate  the  faster ;  and,  as  the  as- 
signats were  bought  and  sold,  as  our  bank  paper 
now  is,  they  passed  another  law  to  prevent  the  gold 
from  passing  for  more  than  its  nominal  worth,  and 
to  prevent  the  paper  to  pass  for  less  than  its  nominal 
worth.  This  object,  though  attempted  to  be  accom- 
plished by  the  means  of  very  severe  penalties,  was 
not  accomplished.  There  was  still  a  money  price 
and  paper  price  ;  for  when  a  man  went  to  market, 
he  pulled  out  his  paper,  or  his  coin,  and  the  article 
was  high  or  low  priced  accordingly.  If  the  thing 
to  be  bought  was  a  quarter  of  mutton,  for  instance, 
a  crown  piece  in  silver  might  be  the  price  ;  but,  if 
the  payment  was  to  be  made  with  paper,  then  the 
price  might  be  ten  pounds  or  fifty  pounds,  perhaps. 
The  next  thing,  therefore,  was  to  prohibit  the  use 
of  coin  altogether.  But  this  did  not  answer  the 
purpose.  The  assignats  still  keep  depreciating,  and 
the  rate  of  depreciation  kept  on  increasing,  till,  at 
last,  it  required  a  hundred  pounds  to  purchase  a 
pair  of  common  shoes;  and  this  was  not  at  all 
wonderful ;  for,  when  once  a  paper  money  is  got 
into  an  acknowledged  and  notorious  depreciation,  it 
always  goes  on  with  accelerated  velocity.  Well, 


what  w 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  365 


dial  was  now  to  be  done  ?  If  it  took  a  hundred 
pounds  to  purchase  a  pair  of  common  shoes,  what 
-  was  the  use  of  collecting  taxes  in  such  money  ? 
And  what  was  to  become  of  those  whose  incomes, 
founded  on  former  contracts,  were  paid  them  in 
such  money  ?  What  was  the  Government  to  do  ? 
Why,  to  fix  a  price  upon  all  the  necessaries  oj 
life,  and  to  compel  people  to  sell  their  goods  at 
those  prices.  This  was  done,  and  all  farmers, 
bakers,  butchers,  and  others,  were  compelled  to  sell 
their  commodities  at  the  same  price,  in  assignats,  as 
they  used  to  sell  them  at  in  money,  before  any  as- 
signats were  made.  The  consequence  of  this  was, 
that  those  who  had  corn  or  meat  or  other  neces- 
saries, did  not  bring  them  to  market;  the  shopkeep- 
ers shut  up  their  shops,  or  hid  their  goods.  To 
counteract  this,  a  law  was  passed  to  punish  monopo- 
lists, and  every  man  who  kept  more  corn,  meat,  or 
necessaries  of  any  sort,  in  his  house,  than  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  the  use  of  his  own  family, 
became  a  monopolist,  and,  in  many  cases,  such  per- 
sons were  punished  with  death  !  This  was  the  last 
of  that  series  of  measures,  which  was  adopted  in 
France  during  the  reign  of  terror  and  blood.  The 
guillotine  was  continually  at  work  to  enforce  this 
last  measure.  The  market-place  in  every  consider- 
able town  reeked  with  human  blood.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  of  innocent  country  people  and  shopkeep- 
ers perished  upon  the  scaffold  and  in  prison,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  laws  made  for  the  purpose  of  sus- 
taining a  depreciated  paper  money  in  France  $ 
and,  wherever  a  similar  project  is  attempted  to  be 
forced  into  execution,  similar  consequences  will 
follow. 

At  last,  however,  the  people  of  France,  unable  to 
endure  so  hellish  a  system  any  longer,  put  an  end  to 
it  and  to  its  authors.  The  paper  money  was  totally 
annihilated,  and  in  a  short  time,  gold  and  silver 
came  back  into  circulation.  But,  in  the  mean  while, 
what  protection  did  any  of  these  measures  give  to 
31* 


366  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  man  of  fixed  income,  who  might  be  compared 
to  our  fund-holder  ?  How  did  he  get  any  protection 
from  any  of  these  measures  ?  Yet,  he  got  full  as 
much  as  the  fund-holder  in  England  will  get  from 
this  measure  of  Mr.  Perceval,  who,  though  he  may, 
in  part,  ruin  the  land-owner,  will  not,  thereby,  do 
the  fund-holder  the  smallest  good.  The  rent  of  the 
fund-holder's  house  is  the  least  article  of  his  yearly 
expenses.  His  servants,  his  upholsterer,  his  butch- 
er, his  baker,  his  haberdasher,  his  draper,  his  brewer, 
his  wine-merchant,  &c.  &c.  will  all  be  paid  in  gold, 
or  in  paper  upon  the  principle  of  TWO  PRICES. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  means  of  protecting  the  fund- 
holder  against  these  gentlemen,  except  the  maxi- 
mum. It  is  useless  to  talk  about  it,  and  for  people 
to  attempt  to  buoy  themselves  up  with  a  sort  of 
vague  notion  of  the  impossibility  that  an  English 
ministry  should  ever  do  what  was  done  by  Robes- 
pierre. I  hope  they  never  will,  indeed ;  but,  this  I 
am  sure  of,  that,  without  doing  what  was  done  by 
Robespierre,  they  cannot  make  the  fund-holder's  in- 
come equal  in  value  to  gold  and  silver.  This  is 
what  Mr.  Perceval  wishes  to  do ;  this  is  what  he 
calls  protecting  the  fund-holder,  and  this  would  be 
protecting  him ;  but  this,  I  tell  him,  he  cannot  do, 
nor  can  all  the  powers  on  earth  do  it.  To  stop 
where  we  are  is  within  the  scope  of  possibility. 
By  an  immediate  stop  to  the  increase  of  the  National 
Debt  and  the  Dividends ;  by  an  immediate  stop  to 
all  Loans  and  issues  of  Exchequer  Bills  ;  by  an  im- 
mediate reduction  of  the  Taxes  ;  by  such  means, 
immediately  adopted,  we  might  stop  where  we  are ; 
but,  to  restore  is  impossible.  To  make  the  divi- 
dends worth  their  nominal  amount  in  gold  and 
silver  is  no  more  possible  than  it  is  to  bring  ba^ck 
yesterday. 

When  I  closed  my  last  Letter,  I  thought  that  in 
this  I  should  have  been  able  to  conclude  the  discus- 
sion ;  but  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  has 
created  new  matter,  and  as  I  wish  to  see  the  event 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  367 


of  the  Bill  now  before  that  House,  before  I  take  my 
leave  of  the  subject,  I  must  defer  the  conclusion  till 
next  week. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen, 

Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Friday,  July  \2tJi,  1811. 


LETTER  XXVII. 


"I  maintain,  that  all  Europe  is  contemplating  the  payment  in  specie  at  the 
Bank,  as  the  criterion  of  the  credit  of  the  country.  If  the  Bank  continue 
to  issue  paper  without  Control,  the  Country  Banks  will  do  the  same. 
They  will  pour  out  their  notes  upon  us  without  mercy  ;  and  we  are  now 

BEGINNING  A  COURSE  OF  A3SIGNATS Loud  cries  of  Order . 

Order!  Question,  Question^  Question,  from  every  part  of  the  House." 
—Mr.  Robson's  Speech  in  the  Honourable  House,  2nd  April,  1802. 


"  By  these  WISE  and  provident  measures  (the  measures  relating  to  the  Bank 
Stoppage)  all  the  apprehensions  I  hat  were  entertained  are  vanished  :  the 


Mr.  Robson's  Proposition — George  Rose's  "  Blessed  Com- 
forts"— The  Nature  and  Extent  of  these  Comforts — Great 
Use  of  ascertaining  them — Necessity  of  discovering  who 
has  got  the  Money  that  has  been  borrowed  on  Account  of 
the  Public— Case  of  De  Yonge. 

GENTLEMEN, 

BEFORE  I  resume  the  thread  of  our  discussion, 
which  was  rather  abruptly  broken  off  at  the  close  of 
my  last  Letter,  give  me  leave  to  beg  your  attention 
to  the  two  passages,  which  I  have,  upon  this  occa- 
sion, taken  as  MOTTOS. 

You  see,  that  Mr.  ROBSON  was  called  to  order; 
that  he  was  run  down  by  all  parts  of  the  Honourable 
House  ;  that  he  was  hooted  out  of  countenance,  and, 
you  may  see  in  the  history  of  that  day's  proceedings, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  sit  down  and  to  hold  his 


368  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

tongue.  An<  yet,  what  did  he  say  ?  What  was 
the  folly  he  was  guilty  of?  Why,  foretelling  pre- 
cisely what  has  now  come  to  pass.  And,  I  beg  you 
to  observe,  that  he  recommended,  upon  the  occasion 
here  referred  to,  a  control  as  to  the  quantity  of  pa- 
per to  be  issued  by  the  Bank,  a  measure  now  recom- 
mended by  the  whole  of  one  party  in  the  Honoura- 
ble House,  and  by  part  of  the  other  party  •  and, 
though  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  think  that  it 
would  have  been  possible  to  save  the  paper  by  the 
means  of  any  such  control ;  still  the  proposition  is 
now  put  forward  as  the  only  one  that  can  restore  the 
paper  to  its  former  value.  Yet  did  the  members  of 
the  Honourable  House  hoot  Mr.  ROBSON  down;  they 
coughed,  and  laughed,  and  hallooed  him  off  his  legs. 
Ah!  but  those  times  were  very  different  from  the 
present.  The  enemies  of  the  truth  were  then 
strong.  They  had  not,  as  yet,  seen  the  guinea  at  a 
premium,  and  the  bank  note  at  a  discount.  Faith! 
they  have  a  great  deal  more  to  see  yet :  what  they 
have  to  see,  they  can  scarcely  guess  at ;  much  good 
may  it  do  them.  They  hooted  down  Mr.  Robson ; 
they  had  their  own  way  ;  and,  therefore,  let  them 
not  complain  when  the  days  of  their  humiliation 
shall  arrive. 

The  second  motto  calls  to  our  minds  the  means 
that  were,  and  that  all  along  have  been,  made  use 
of  to  deceive  the  people  as  to  the  finances  in  gene- 
ral, and,  especially,  as  to  the  state  of  the  paper  mo- 
ney, in  which  wort  this  GEORGE  ROSE  has  borne  a 
principal  part.  He  was,  for  many  years,  Secretary 
to  the  Treasury  under  PITT,  by  whose  authority  this 
publication  was  made  in  the  name  of  ROSE.  In 
short,  he  has  been  a  great  actor  in  the  drama,  which 
is  now  drawing  to  a  close ;  and  he  is  one  of  the 
men,  of  whose  past  conduct  it  will,  hereafter, '  be 
necessary,  absolutely  necessary,  to  give  the  history. 
"  Not  the  slightest  inconvenience"  No,  not  to 
George  Rose,  perhaps ;  but,  could  the  rest  of  the 
nation  say  so  ?  Could  they  say  so,  out  of  whose 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  369 

taxes  George  Rose  was  getting  about  ten  thousand 
pounds  a  year  ?  But,  there  is  another  passage  in 
this  same  publication  of  GEORGE  ROSE,  to  which  I 
must  beg  leave  to  solicit  your  attention,  of  which  it 
is  well  worthy. 

"  There  is  a  time  for  all  things,"  and  now  is  the 
time  for  reminding  the  people  of  England  of  the 
means  by  which  they  have  been  deluded.  It  was  in 
vain  to  endeavour  to  open  their  eyes  before  ;  but  now, 
perhaps,  they  may  be  induced  to  make  use  of  their 
senses.  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  the  means 
employed  to  delude  them,  at  once  to  wheedle  and  to 
scare  them  into  a  quiet  surrender  of  their  money. 
I  beg  you  to  read  it  with  attention  ;  and  you  will,  I 
hope,  be  ashamed  at  having  been  deceived  by  lies 
and  hypocrisy  so  glaring.  "  As  the  amount  of  the 
debt,  which  will  be  incurred  in  this  and  every  sub- 
sequent year  of  the  war,  will  be  so  reduced  by  the 
application  of  the  money  coming  in  from  the  tax  on 
income,  (after  ten  millions  shall  have  been  raised 
for  the  service  of  each  current  year,)  as  that  the 
permanent  debt,  which  will  be  left  as  an  addition  to 
the  antecedent  one,  will  not  exceed  the  annual 
amount  of  the  whole  produce  of  the  Sinking  Fund. 
This  is  A  TRUTH  so  important,  that  it  cannot  be 
too  often,  or  in  too  many  shapes,  exhibited  for  the 
satisfaction  of  our  country,  for  the  conviction  of 
our  enemies,  and  for  the  information  of  Europe.  If 
France  has  built  hopes,  (founded  on  ignorant  or  vi- 
sionary calculations,)  on  the  expected  overthrow  of 
our  financial  system,  and  has  trusted  to  the  failure  of 
our  resources,  she  may  now  perceive  what  means, 
after  so  many  years  ot  this  arduous  struggle,  Great 
Britain  still  possesses  for  maintaining  it.  It  would 
be  a  slander  to  the  sense  and  virtue  of  the  people,  to 
suppose  an  abatement  of  that  spirit  which  has  ena- 
bled Government  to  call  forth  those  resources. 
The  prosperous  state  of  the  empire,  which  affords 
the  power,  furnishes  all  the  motive,  for  continuing 
the  con  test ;  a  contest,  the  support  of  which,  to  a 


370  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

successful  issue,  is  to  secure  us  in  the  enjoyment  of 
every  national  advantage,  and  to  protect  us  from 
the  infliction  of  every  national  calamity.  The  im- 
perious and  awful  necessity  of  the  present  crisis,  un- 
avoidably subjects  us  to  heavy  burdens.  It  has  been 
said,  that  they  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  SAL- 
VAGE for  the  remaining  part  of  our  property.  In 
the  consideration  of  property,  to  which  it  was  appli- 
ed, the  figure  is  sufficiently  striking ;  but,  in  other 
respects,  the  metaphor,  though  just,  is  inadequate. 
What  Tariff  shall  settle  the  difference  between  na- 
tional independence  and  inexorable  tyranny  ?  be- 
tween personal  liberty  and  requisitions,  prisons •, 
and  murder  ?  between  the  BLESSED  COM- 
FORTS OF  RELIGION,  and  the  gloomy  despair 
of  Atheism  ?" 

Well  said,  old  GEORGE  ROSE  !  This  was  the 
sort  of  language  by  which  the  nation  was  led  on  in 
the  former  war.  The  cant  does,  indeed,  no  longer 
take.  It  has  not  the  powers  that  it  possessed  ten 
years  ago;  but,  still  there  is  cant  in  the  nation,  and 
we  ought  to  be  constantly  upon  our  guard  against  it, 
"  Between  the  blessed  comforts  of  Religion,  and 
the  gloomy  despair  of  Atheism  /"  Why  this,  gen- 
tlemen? What  had  the  blessed  comforts  of  religion 
to  do  with  the  matter  ?  How,  if  any  of  you  had 
had  the  spirit  to  put  the  question  to  him ;  how  were 
the  blessed  comforts  of  religion  to  be  taken  from 
you  by  the  French  Republicans?  How  were  those 
blessed  comforts  to  be  secured  to  you  by  a  bloody 
war  against  those  Republicans?  In  short,  what  had 
religion  or  Atheism  to  do  with  the  matter?  What 
an  impudent  thing  to  tell  you,  that,  if  you  did  not 
part  freely  with  your  money,  you  would  be  plunged 
into  the  gloomy  despair  of  Atheism!  What  an  im- 
pudent thing  was  this !  But,  let  us  see  what 
GEORGE  ROSE  really  meant  when  he  was  talking 
about  the  blessed  comforts  of  Religion,  and  the 
salvage,  upon  your  property.  He  says,  "  salvage 
upon  OUR  property ;"  but}  we  shall  soon  see  what 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  371 

sort  of  salvage  he  paid.  You  were  to  pay  salvage* 
but  he  did  not  tell  you  to  whom.  He  did  not  tell 
the  "  thinking  people"  that  he,  himself,  was  one  of 
the  great  receivers  and  pocketers  of  the  said  sal- 
vage. Yet,  at  the  time  when  he  wrote,  he  and  his 
sons  were,  and  they  now  are,  in  the  receipt  annually 
of  public  money  to  the  following  amount: 
OLD  GEORGE  ROSE,  as  Treasurer  of  the 

Navy, £4,324 

OLD  GEORGE  ROSE,  as  Clerk  of  the  Parlia- 
ments, which  is  a  sinecure,  and  is  for  his 
life,  and  is  granted,  also,  for  the  life  of 
his  eldest  son,  YOUNG  GEORGE  ROSE,  3,278 

OLD  GEORGE  ROSE. — Keeper  of  Records  in 

the  Exchequer,  another  sinecure  place,  400 

WILLIAM  STEWART  ROSE,  second  son  of  old 
George  Rose,  as  Clerk  of  the  Exchequer 
Pleas,  which  is  also  a  sinecure  place,  2,137 

£10,139 

Such  was  the  sum  which  "  the  blessed  comforts 
of  religion"  yielded  to  this  man :  no  wonder,  then, 
that  he  felt  an  uncommon  degree  of  horror  at  the 
thought  of  seeing  those  blessings  supplanted  by  the 
"  gloomy  despair  of  Atheism,"  which  of  course 
being  interpreted,  meant  the  loss  of  this  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  a  year  !  So  you,  the  people  of  England, 
yea,  "  this  most  thinking  people  of  Europe,"  as 
Lord  STORMONT  (who  by-the-by,  had  a  fat  sinecure) 
called  them,  were  to  pay  George  Rose  and  his  sons 
ten  thousand  pounds  a  year  in  part  of  the  means  of 
preserving  themselves  from  the  gloomy  despair  of 
Atheism!  But,  observe,  Gentlemen,  OLD  GEORGE 
ROSE  has  been  for  nearly  thirty  years  in  the  receipt 
of  large  sums  annually  of  the  people's  money.  His 
salary  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  he  had  before 
he  was  Treasurer  of  the  Navy,  and  that  was  4,000/. 
a  year.  It  is  si.rleen  years,  at  least,  since  he  got 
the  grant  of  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Parliaments, 
at  3,27S/.  a  year,  which  is  just  so  much  money  for 


372  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

doing  nothing  at  all,  the  office  being  what  is  called 
a  sinecure.  How  long  he  has  possessed  the  400/.  a 
year  as  keeper  of  the  Exchequer  Records  I  do  not 
know;  but,  I  believe,  twenty  years,  if  not  more.  So 
that,  I  think,  we  shall  not  be  far  from  the  mark,  if 
we  suppose  him  to  have  possessed  the  whole  for 
twenty  years  past.  What  other  emoluments  he  may 
have  had,  how  much  more  of  the  public  money  he 
may  have  received,  I  do  not  know.  His  son  GEORGE 
is,  I  believe,  to  have  a  large  pension  for  life  for  his 
trip  to  America  ;  where  he  did  not  remain  a  year,  I 
believe,  altogether.  But  these  will  be  matters  for 
another  day's  reckoning.  For  the  present  let  us 
see  what  the  above  sum  amounts  to  in  the  course  of 
twenty  years.  The  principal  money  is  202,780Z.  In 
words,  two  hundred  and  two  thousand,  seven  hun- 
dred and  eighty  pounds  ;  and  if  we  add  the  interest, 
the  amount  is  about  323,000/.  ;  in  words,  THREE 
HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY  THREE  THOU- 
SAND POUNDS,  nearly  two  thirds  of  which  have 
been  received  for  sinecure  places,  that  is  to  say  for 
doing  nothing. 

Here  are  "  blessed  comforts  of  religion  /"  The 
thinking  people,  "  most  thinking  people  in  the  world" 
were  desired  to  believe,  that  unless  they  paid  this 
and  other  such  sums,  they  would  lose  all  the  "  blessed 
comforts  of  religion,"  and  would  be  plunged  into  the 
gloomy  despair  of  atheism, ;  that,  in  short,  if  they 
did  not  continue  to  pay  these  sums  of  money,  they 
would  all  go  to  hell  as  sure  they  were  born.  Oh, 
"  most  thinking  people  !" 

But,  Gentlemen,  now  let  us  apply  what  has  here 
been  said  to  the  subject  before  us.  I  observed  to 
you,  before,  and,  indeed,  proved  to  you,  the  measure 
of  Lord  King  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  differ- 
ence between  the  value  of  paper  and  that  of  coin, 
and  that  that  difference  has  arisen  from  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  paper,  that  that  depreciation  has  arisen 
from  the  abundance  of  the  paper  compared  with  the 
quantity  of  gold  in  circulation,  that  that  abundance 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  373 

has  arisen  from  the  stoppage  of  the  payments  of 
cash  at  the  Bank,  that  that  stoppage  arose  from  the 
vast  increase  in  the  amount  of  the  National  Debt 
and  the  Dividends :  all  this  I  have  before  proved 
to  you,  and  in  a  manner,  I  trust,  that  you  clearly  un- 
derstand ;  but,  there  is  still  one  stage  further  to  go 
back,  and  that  is,  to  the  CAUSE  of  the  increase  of 
the  National  Debt !  Mark  well;  what  I  say  here, 
Gentlemen.  Mark  this  well ;  for  this  is  now,  or,  at 
least,  it  very  soon  must  be,  the  great,  and  indeed,  the 
only  object,  connected  with  the  paper  system,  worthy 
of  our  attention. 

In  the  common  concerns  of  life,  in  the  affairs  of 
individuals,  where  interest  induces  men  to  do  the 
"best  they  can  for  the  prosperity  of  the  concern,  we 
always  find,  that,  in  the  case  of  embarrassment, 
arising  from  debt,  the  cause  of  such  debt  is  looked 
well  into  by  those  who  wish  to  retrieve  the  affairs 
of  the  concern ;  and,  if  they  find,  that  the  debt  has 
been  incurred  by  this  or  by  that  species  of  extrava- 
gance, they  set  to  work  to  put  a  stop  to  such  extra- 
vagance, and,  in  cases  calling  for  it,  they  inquire 
who  it  is  that  has  derived  gain  from  the  creation  of 
the  Debt.  And  why,  should  not  we  do  this  ?  Why 
should  not  we,  in  our  present  state,  inquire  who  have, 
if  any  persons  have,  gained  by  this  increase  of  debt; 
or.  in  other  words,  whether  there  be  any  persons 
who  have  been  receiving,  for  the  last  twenty  or 
thirty  years,  (we  may  stop  there,)  large  sums  of 
money  out  of  the  loans,  which  loans  have  added  to 
the  Debt  ?  Why,  in  short,  should  not  we  look  with 
this  sort  of  eye  into  our  affairs  ?  The  nation,  this 
"  most  thinking'  nation,"  seems  here  again  to  be  de- 
luded. The  public  were  getting  into  motion :  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  them  perfectly  quiet  any  longer : 
but,  it  was  easy  to  throw  them  off  upon  a  wrong 
scent  ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  the  halloo  against  Lord 
KING  was  set  up.  But,  "  steady"  men  of  England  ! 
"  Solid"  men  of  England  !  Thinking,  "  most  think- 
ing people"  of  England !  Do  not,  thus  to  the  last, 
32 


374  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

expose  yourselves  to  the  ridicule  and  contempt  of 
the  world  !  Let  me  beseech  you  not  to  be  dupes 
and  gulls  to  the  last  moment ! 

What,  considering  us  as  rational  men;  consider- 
ing us  as  intellectual  beings  ;  considering  us  as  crea- 
tures having  souls  in  our  bodies  ;  considering  us  as 
something  superior  to  the  beasts  that  perish ;  con- 
sidering ourselves  in  this  light,  what,  I  ask,  have  we 
to  do  with  the  manner  in  which  Lord  KING,  one  of 
the  landowners,  wishes  to  settle  with  his  tenants  for 
their  rent  ?  Let  him,  in  the  name  of  common  sense, 
manage  his  affairs  in  anyway  that  he  likes  best;  and 
let  us  endeavour  to  retrieve  our  affairs.  With  this 
laudable  determination  in  our  minds,  and  being  con- 
vinced that  all  our  embarrassments  arise  from  our 
debts,  let  us  look  back  into  our  books  for  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  see  how  we  have  got  rid 
of  our  money.  We  have  always  had  a  large  in- 
come,  and  yet  our  AGENT,  for  the  time  being,  has 
been  bor rowing  money  for  us.  This  may  possibly 
have  been  necessary  ;  but,  at  least,  let  us  not  act  the 
part  of  careless  men  in  common  life,  who,  in  spite 
of  circumstances  enough  to  awaken  suspicion  in  cre- 
dulity itself,  still  confide  in  a  plundering  sharper. 
Let  us  look  into  our  books :  let  us  look  back  into  our 
old  accounts,  and  see  what  our  AGENTS,  in  succession, 
have  done  with  our  money.  Our  income  they  have 
expended,  they  have  made  prodigious  loans  in  our 
name,  and  have  charged  us  with  interest  upon  them: 
let  us  see,  then,  to  whom  and  for  what  they  have 
paid  away  all  this  money;  for,  if  we  should  find, 
that  they  have  taken  any  part  of  the  money  to  them- 
selves or  given  it  away,  that  opens  to  us  a  most  in- 
teresting view  of  the  matter. 

Well,  then,  in  looking  over  the  account  books  of 
the  nation  for  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years,  I  $nd 
several  large  sums  paid  to  OLD  GEORGE  ROSE  and 
his  sons,  and  I  find,  too,  that  the  far  greater  part  of 
it  has  been  paid  to  them  for  sinecure  offices,  that  is 
to  say  nothing-to-do- Offices.  I  put  these  sums  to- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  375 

gether,  I  calculate  the  interest  upon  them,  and  I  find 
these,  together  with  the  interest,  amount  to  £323,000 
or  thereabouts.  So  !  say  I,  here  I  have,  then,  dis- 
covered the  cause,  in  part,  of  this  embarrassment  of 
our  affairs.  If  this  money  had  not  been  given  to  the 
ROSES,  the  nation  would  not,  of  course,  have  been 
so  much  in  debt,  the  dividends  upon  the  interest  of 
the  Debt  would  not  have  been  so  large,  the  Bank 
Company  need  not  have  made  so  much  paper  to  pay 
the  Dividends  with,  the  run  upon  the  Bank  would 
not  have  taken  place  so  soon,  the  stoppage  of  cash 
payments  would  not  have  been  called  for  at  so  early 
a  period,  the  depreciation  would  not  have  come  on 
so  fast,  the  gold  would  have  been  longer  in  arriving 
at  a  premium,  and  LORD  KING  would  not  as  yet,  at 
least,  have  given  the  notice  which  has  led  to  the 
Bill  now  before  Parliament. 

I  shall  be  asked,  perhaps,  what  signifies  323,000 
when  the  whole  of  the  Debt  amounts  to  £800,000,000. 
My  answer  is  that  millions  are  composed  of  ones  ; 
and  that  no  sums  are  so  large  as  those  which  grow 
out  of  many  small  ones.  But  is  this  a  small 
sum  ?  Look  at  it  !  It  is  a  2,500//&  part  of  the 
whole  of  the  National  Debt.  Think  of  that !  I  may 
have  had  an  error  in  my  estimate ;  the  Roses  may 
not  have  had  this  income  for  so  long  a  time  ;  and  I 
may  have  committed  an  error  in  computing  the 
amount  of  the  interest ;  but,  if  I  am  right,  as  I  think 
I  am,  and  under  the  mark  instead  of  over  the  mark, 
then  have  these  persons,  this  one  family,  and,  indeed, ' 
one  member  of  it  chiefly,  received,  from  the  nation, 
in  principal  and  interest,  a  2,500th  part  of  the  whole 
of  the  National  Debt  at  this  day  in  existence. 

Here,  we  are  upon  the  TRUE  SCENT,  Gentle- 
men ;  and  I  am  quite  satisfied,  that  all  the  hallooing 
and  hooting  and  doubling  and  luring  in  the  world, 
will  never,  in  the  end,  prevent  us  from  having  suc- 
cess in  the  chase.  A  2,500th  part  of  the  whole  Debt 
mind  ;  but,  of  the  Debt  created  within  the  last  twenty 
or  thirty  years,  it  will  make  about  a  1,800th  part.  So 


376  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

that,  if  my  calculation  be  correct,  GEORGE  ROSE  and 
his  son  (without  meaning  the  value  of  the  reversion- 
ary grant  or  of  the  Envoy's  pension)  have,  during  the 
last  twenty  or  thirty  years,  received,  in  principal  and 
interest,  a  sum  of  money  from  the  people  equal  to  a 
l,SQQlhpart  of  all  that  portion  of  the  National  Debt, 
which  has  been  created  during  the  last  thirty  years. 

When  sinecures  and  pensions  have  been  talked 
of,  you  have  observed  certain  persons  set  up  an  af- 
fected horse-laugh,  as  if  the  amount  was  a  mere 
trifle,  a  thing  to  laugh  at;  but,  you  see,  Gentlemen, 
that  these  are  not  trifles ;  that  they  are  things  worth 
looking  into ;  and  there  are  few  persons,  I  believe, 
who  have  ever  had  to  do  with  embarrassed  pecuniary 
affairs,  who  will  not  think  with  me,  that  the  sooner 
we  look  into  these  things  the  better.  For,  if  we 
were,  for  instance,  to  find  out,  in  searching  the  Na- 
tion's old  accounts,  1,800  persons,  each  of  whom  has 
received  of  the  public  money,  in  the  last  thirty  years, 
a  sum  in  amount  equal  to  that  received  by  GEORGE 
ROSE,  then  the  thing  is  made  clear  at  once.  There 
is  no  more  difficulty.  We,  at  once,  see  the  cause  of 
the  increase  of  the  National  Debt ;  or,  at  least,  we 
see  the  means  that  might  have  been  employed  to 
prevent  the  stoppage  of  the  Bank  cash  payments, 
and  the  consequent  depreciation  of  the  paper-money, 

I  shall  be  told,  may  be,  by  some  persons,  that  I 
forget  the  services  which  GEORGE  ROSE  has  rendered 
to  the  country.  That  is  a  point  upon  which  men 
may  differ  in  opinion  ;  but,  then,  that  claim  has  been 
satisfied  by  the  salaries  as  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury and  Treasurer  of  the  Navy ;  so  that,  at  any 
rate,  there  are  more  than  six-tenths  of  the  whole 
sum  to  be  kept  to  the  sinecure  account ;  and,  as  I 
said  before,  there  may  have  been  many  and  large 
emoluments  of  which  I  have,  and  can  have,  no  know- 
ledge. There  is,  indeed,  the  other  claim  mentioned 
in  the  early  part  of  this  letter,  namely,  the  preserving 
to  us,  the  "  most  thinking  people  in  the  world,"  the 
"BLESSED  COMFORTS  of  religion ;»  and  really 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  377 

I  must  confess,  that,  against  those  who  thought  that 
paying  taxes  and  creating  National  Debts  were  ne- 
cessary to  prevent  them  from  being  made  Atheists 
by  French  Republicans,  this  claim  is  good.  Those 
"who  could  be  made  believe  that,  must  be  of  so  stupid 
and  so  base  a  nature  as  to  make  them  wholly  un- 
worthy the  attention  of  him,  whose  object  is  to  be 
happy  and  free  ;  because  such  people  must  have  been 
fashioned  by  nature  to  be  slaves.  What  a  degra- 
ding idea !  Pay  money  to  prevent  myself  from  being 
made  an  Atheist !  Pay  taxes ;  suffer  in  silence  my 
estate  to  be  taken  from  me  by  piece-meal,  and  sit  quiet 
while  I  am  told,  that  this  is  necessary  in  order  that 
the  French  may  not  take  from  me  "  the  BLESSED 
COMFORTS  of  religion  !"  Talk  of  credulity,  in- 
deed !  I  defy  any  man  to  produce  me,  from  the  an- 
nals of  superstition,  from  any  of  the  records  of  human 
credulity  or  human  cowardice,  any  thing  which,  to 
the  character  of  man,  is  so  degrading,  as  this  is. 

Yet,  this  was  the  sort  of  language  made  use  of  by 
the  partizans  of  PITT,  during  the  whole  course  of  the 
Anti-jacobin  war.  There  were  many  tricks  played 
off;  but  the  grand,  the  master  trick,  the  never  failing 
fraud,  was  the  alarm  at  the  danger  of  seeing  Athe- 
ism introduced  instead  of  the  Christian  Religion  ; 
the  "  gloomy  despair  of  Atheism,"  says  GEORGE 
ROSE,  instead  of  "  the  BLESSED  COMFORTS 
of  religion  !"  What  would  I  give  to  have  seen 
GEORGE  just  at  the  moment  of  his  finishing  that  sen- 
tence !  I  should  like  to  have  watched  his  looks,  and, 
if  possible,  to  have  heard  his  soliloquy !  "  BLESSED 
COMFORTS  of  religion!"  He  seems  totally  to 
have  forgotten  the  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year ; 
but,  I  trust,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when 
that,  and  all  other  matters  of  the  kind,  will  be  well 
and  scrupulously  attended  to. 

Upon  a  future  occasion,  Gentlemen,  I  intend  en- 
tering more  at  large  into  an  inquiry  as  to  what  has 
become  of  the  money  borrowed  during  the  last 
twenty  or  thirty  years;  but  this  I  must  defer  till 
32* 


378  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

another  opportunity.  In  my  next  I  intend  closing 
this  series  of  letters,  when  I  shall  have  seen  the  dis- 
cussions upon  the  Bill,  now  before  the  Parliament, 
brought  to  an  end.  That  will  be  a  natural  point 
for  me  and  you,  Gentlemen,  to  rest  at,  until  some- 
thing new  and  important  shall  arise,  and  that  will 
soon  be  the  case,  I  am  pretty  certain.  In  the  mean 
while,  I  beg  leave  to  subjoin  a  few  remarks  on  the 
case  of  DE  YONGE,  together  with  a  Letter  from  him- 
self to  LORD  VISCOUNT  FOLKESTONE,  and  remain, 
Your  faithful  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT, 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Thursday >,  July  18,  1811. 

THE  case  of  DE  YONGE,  the  Jew,  who,  in  the 
month  of  August  last  year,  was  tried  for  selling 
Guineas  for  more  than  their  nominal  value  in  Bank- 
Notes,  has  proved,  what  I  then  said  it  would  be, 
"  one  of  the  most  important  that  had  taken  place 

for  many  years." 1  said,  and  published  at  the 

time,  my  opinion,  that,  notwithstanding  the  prosecu- 
tion had  been  ordered  and  carried  on  by  the  Attor- 
ney General  (Gibbs,)  and  though  the  man  had  been 
found  guilty  by  a  Special  Jury,  and  in  coincidence 
with  the  direction  of  the  Judge  (Ellenborough ;) 
notwithstanding  all  this,  I  gave  it  as  my  decided 
opinion,  and  maintained  that  opinion  by  argument, 
that  the  Jew  had  been  guilty  of  no  crime  in  the  eye 
of  the  law  of  England.  The  case,  as  we  have  be- 
fore seen,  has  since  been  argued  before  the  Tivelve 
Judges,  and  they  have  pronounced,  that  what  the 

man  was  charged  with,  was  not  a  crime. It  is 

a  long  time  since  this  man's  prosecution  began.  No- 
tice will  be  found  of  it  in  the  Register  a  year  and 
a  half  ago.  It  was  manifest,  that  the  poor  man 
must  have  greatly  suffered  in  purse  as  well  as  in 
mind ;  and,  when  the  Judges  had  declared  him 
guilty  of  no  crime,  LORD  FOLKESTONE,  who  had  be- 
fore interested  himself  greatly  in  the  man's  fate, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  379 

and  had  given  notice,  that  if  the  case  was  not 
speedily  decided  upon  by  the  Judges,  he  would  bring 
it  before  Parliament ;  when  the  Judges  had  de- 
cided, his  Lordship  complained,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  that  the  poor  man  had  suffered  greatly, 
and  ought  to  have  compensation  made  him.  The 
ATTORNEY  GENERAL  answered,  that  every  man  was 
liable  to  the  same  sort  of  inconvenience  and  injury. 
To  be  sure,  said  his  Lordship,  every  man  is  liable 
to  have  a  false  accusation  preferred  against  him ; 
every  man  is  liable  to  be  prosecuted  without  suffi- 
cient grounds  ;  but  this  was  a  singular  case  :  the 
prosecution  was  ordered  by  the  King^s  own  Attorney 
General ;  and,  what  is  more,  the  crime,  as  it  was 
called,  was,  by  the  Government  Solicitor,  procured 
to  be  committed  ;  so  that  the  man  was  prevailed 
upon  by  the  prosecutors  to  commit  what  they  deemed 
a  great  crime  ;  they  tempted  him  to  commit  the 
crime  ;  they,  in  fact,  made  the  crime,  or  the  sup- 
posed crime,  that  they  intended  to  prosecute,  and 
that  they  actually  did  prosecute.  This  is  by  no 
means  a  common  case ;  it  is  by  no  means  one  of 
those  vexatious  and  groundless  prosecutions  to  which 
any  man  is  liable  from  the  malice  or  mistake  of 
others.  This  was  a  prosecution  by  the  law  officers 
of  the  Crown,  and  by  the  Attorney  General  in  par- 
ticular ;  and,  all  the  sufferings  of  DE  YONGE  have 
arisen  from  the  Attorney  Qeneral's  not  knowing  the 
law  upon  this  point.  It  is  no  crime,  to  be  sure,  to 
,be  ignorant  of  the  law  upon  any  point ;  nor  is  it  to 
be  supposed  that  Attorney  Generals  are  conjurors 
any  more  than  other  men  ;  but,  when  they  seek  to 
get  the  grounds  of  a  prosecution  ;  when  they  get  a 
man  to  commit  a  crime,  (or  when  those  under  them 
do  it,)  they  may  have  an  opportunity  of  prosecuting 
it ;  when  this  is  the  case,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  I 
think,  that  they  ought  to  know  the  law  before  they 
proceed.  And,  I  am  quite  sure,  that,  in  all  sucn 
cases,  where  there  is  an  acquittal  at  last,  the  suffer- 
ing party  ought  to  be  indemnified  for  his  sufferings 


380  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

and  losses.  For  if  this  be  not  so,  what  man  is  safe 
from  utter  ruin  ?  Who  may  not  be  ruined  ?  What 
DE  YONGE  has  suffered  we  shall  now  see,  in  a  Let- 
ter, which  he  has  had  the  gratitude  to  address  to 
LORD  FOLKESTONE,  and  which,  as  being  a  very  clear 
and  modest  statement  of  his  case,  and  as  a  docu- 
ment connected  with  the  great  subject' of  which  we 
are  here  treating,  I  here  insert : — 

"  My  LORD  ;  I  shall  be  wanting  in  gratitude  were 
I  to  omit  returning  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for 
your  disinterested  endeavours  on  my  behalf,  and  I. 
assure  your  Lordship  I  do  not  feel  less  grateful  be- 
cause they  were  unsuccessful. — Your  Lordship  will 
perhaps  excuse  me  if  I  mention  a  few  circumstances 
in  my  case  of  which  I  think  I  am  justified  in  com- 
plaining, and  particularly  as  Mr.  Attorney  General 
asserted  that  I  had  suffered  no  material  hardships. — 
In  the  first  place,  I  did  not  seek  the  barter  or  ex- 
change which  formed  the  subject  of  the  accusation 
against  me ;  the  plan  was  laid  by  the  Mint  Solicitors 
to  tempt  me  to  the  bargain,  and  then  to  prosecute 
me, — Pursuant  to  this  arrangement,  a  foreigner  was 
employed,  who  came  to  my  house  as  the  interpreter 
to  another  man,  in  his  company  ;  they  stated,  that 
they  were  recommended  to  me  to  make  the  purchase, 
and,  after  urging  me  to  deal  with  them,  officers  came 
into  my  house,  seized  me  and  my  money,  and,  at  a 
late  hour  in  the  evening,  I  was  hurried  from  my  fa- 
mily to  a  loathsome  prison,  (the  Poultry  Counter,) 
and  there  kept  three  days  and  three  nights  in  cus- 
tody without  bail  being  admitted.  At  length,  on  the 
final  examination,  I  was  discharged  on  giving  bail  to 
a  large  amount,  which  I  had  some  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing ;  and  had  I  not  been  able  to  obtain  it,  I  must 
have  remained  in  custody  18  months,  the-  period 
this  question  has  been  pending.  Lastly,  the  expense 
and  anxiety  I  have  sustained  has  been  enormous, 
some  through  the  solicitors  for  the  prosecution,  for 
after  going  through  all  the  necessary  forms  of  law 
to  bring  the  first  Indictment  against  me  to  issue,  and, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  381 


indeed,  when  it  stood  for  trial,  the  prosecutors  moved 
to  quash  it  and  prefer  another,  because  they  had 
misrecited  the  proclamation. — A  second  Indictment 
was  accordingly  found,  and  this  also  I  proceeded  in, 
until  it  was  coming  on  for  trial,  at  the  Old  Bailey, 
when,  to  my  great  mortification  and  astonishment,  it 
was  removed  by  the  prosecutors,  into  the  Court  of 
King's  Bench,  by  which  means  I  had,  as  it  were, 
my  defence  again  to  commence. — Being  in  very  mo- 
derate circumstances,  and  having  a  family  to  sup- 
port, I  have  necessarily  sustained  many  deprivations 
in  consequence  of  the  great  law  expenses  incurred 
in  defending  myself  against  this  accusation,  and,  I 
fear,  it  will  be  a  considerable  time  before  I  can  re- 
cover myself  from  the  injuries  I  have  sustained. — I 
will  not  further  trouble  your  Lordship,  but  conclude 
with  observing,  that  I  humbly  conceive  the  Law 
Officers  of  the  great  public  bodies  and  of  Govern- 
ment, having,  as  they  must,  the  best  means  of  inform- 
ation on  legal  points,  ought  to  be  somewhat  more 
circumspect  and  accurate  in  their  expounding  acts 
of  parliament,  before  they  distress  and  bear  down 
an  humble  individual,  and  expend  the  public  money, 
by  harassing  and  groundless  prosecutions. — I  am, 
my  Lord,  with  the  greatest  respect,  your  most  obe- 
dient and  very  humble  Servant, 

"  JAMES  DE  YONGE. 
c  107,  Hounsditchj  mh  July,  1811. 


LETTER  XXVIII. 


"I  looked  upon  the  Bullion  Report  as  likely  toJead  to  what  would  be  likely 
to  secure  the  country  from  the  natural  consequences  of  that  overwhelming 
corruption,  which  1  regarded  as  the  fruit  pt  the  paper  system  ;  and,  as  I 
bave  ths  accomplishment  of  this  great  object  deeply  at  heart ;  as  I  look 
upon  the  happiness  and  honour  of  my  country  asot  far  greater  value  tome 
than  any  other  worldly  possession,  I  said,  and  I  still  say,  that  the  Bullion 
Report  has  given  me  more  pleasure  than  I  could  derive  from  being  made 
tlii  owner  of  the  whole  of  Hampshire.  As  to  any  idea  of  a  -party  nature. 


3S2  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

I  shall,  I  am  Bure,  be  believed,  when  I  say,  that  I  do  not  care  one  §traw 
to  what  party  the  Committee  belonged.  If  I  had  a  wish  as  to  party,  it 
certainly  would  be,  that  no  change  of  ministry  should  take  place; 
for  without  prejudice  to  the  OUTS,  who,  I  think  would  do  the  tiling  full  as 
well  with  a  littie  more  time,  I  am  quite  satisfied,  that  the  present  people 
will  doit  as  ne.atly  and  as  quickly,  as  any  reasonable  man  can  expect."— 
POLITICAL  REGISTER,  Vol.  XV1I1.  p.  427,  Sept.  22nd,  1810. 


Progress  of  Lord  Stanhope's  Bill — Effects  of  its  Provisions- 
Mr.  Brougham's  Resolutions—The  Justice  of  Lord  King's 
Claim  insisted  on — Illustrated  hy  the  Grants  to  the  King 
and  the  Additions  to  the  Pay  of  the  Judges. 

GENTLEMEN, 

THE  Bill  is  past!  And,  be  you  assured,  that  the 
die  is  cast !  When  I  wrote  the  passage,  which  I 
have  taken  for  my  motto  to  this  letter,  I  did  expect 
to  see  what  I  hinted  at  in  the  close  of  that  passage  ; 
but,  I  must  confess,  that  I  did  not  expect  the  progress 
to  have  been  quite  so  rapid  as  it  has  been.  For  the 
future  my  calculations  will  be  more  likely  to  keep 
pace  with  events. 

Well,  the  Bill  of  Lord  Stanhope  is  now  become 
a  law.  We  will,  therefore,  take  a  short  view  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  it ;  and,  when  we  have  so  done, 
we  will  examine  its  provisions,  and  endeavour  to 
point  its  consequences.  The  Bill  was  brought  into 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  read  a  first  time  on  the  27th 
of  June,  when  no  division  took  place,  and  when  an 
intimation  was  given  by  the  ministers,  that  they 
should  oppose  it.  On  the  second  of  July,  it  was 
read  a  second  time,  and,  being  now  supported  by 
the  ministers,  the  question  for  the  second  reading 
was  carried,  36  for  it,  12  against  it.  On  the  8th  of 
July,  it  was  read  a  third  time  and  passed,  43  for  it 
and  16  against  it.  In  the  Honourable  House,  it  was 
read  a  first  time  on  the  9th  of  July,  and,  upon  a  di- 
vision on  the  question,  there  appeared  64  for  it  and 
19  against  it.  On  the  15th  of  July  it  was  read  a 
second  time,  133  for  it,  and  35  against  it.  On  'the 
17th  of  July,  it  went  through  a  committee  of  the 
House,  and,  on  the  19th  of  July,  it  was  read  a  third 
time,  and  passed  with  the  amendments  relating  to 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  383 

the  penalties.  On  the  22nd  of  July,  the  amendments 
introduced  by  the  Commons  were  agreed  to  by  the 
Lords.  On  the  24th  of  July,  it  received  the  Royal 
Assent  by  Commission ;  and  thus  it  is  become  A 
LAW  ;  thus  a  new  penal  law  has  been  added  to  the 
almost  endless  number  already  in  existence.  Many 
hundreds  of  the  people  of  this  country  have  been 
banished,  or  put  to  death,  for  imitating"  the  promis- 
sory notes  of  the  Bank  Company ;  and  now  the  peo- 
ple are  liable  to  be  punished  for  passing  them  for 
what  they  may  deem  their  worth,  though  they  be 
their  own  property. 

The  provisions  of  the  Bill  are  not  numerous :  it  is 
a  pithy  affair.  The  first  part  relates  to  the  passing  of 
coin  and  paper,  and  the  second  to  the  recovery  of 
rents.  It  will  be  best  to  insert  the  words.  Those 
of  the  first  part  are  as  follows  :  "  Be  it  enacted,  that 
from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  Act,  no  person 
shall  receive  or  pay  for  any  gold  coin  lawfully  cur- 
rent within  the  realm,  any  more  in  value,  benefit,  or 
advantage,  than  the  true  lawful  value  of  such  coin, 
whether  such  value,  benefit,  profit  or  advantage,  be 
paid,  made,  or  taken  in  lawful  money,  or  in  any  note 
or  notes,  bill  or  bills,  of  the  Governor  and  Company 
of  the  Bank  of  England,  or  in  any  silver  token  or 
tokens  issued  by  the  said  Governor  and  Company, 
or  by  any  or  all  of  the  said  means  wholly  or  partly, 
or  by  any  device,  shift,  or  contrivance  whatsoever. 
And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  no  person  shall,  by  any  device,  shift,  or  contri- 
vance whatsoever,  receive  or  pay  any  note  or  notes, 
bill  or  bills,  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  as  of  less  value  in  money,  except 
lawful  discount,  than  the  sum  expressed  therein,  to 
be  thereby  made  so  payable."  Thus  it  stood  as  it 
went  from  the  Lords.  There  were,  I  believe,  some 
trifling  verbal  alterations  made  in  the  Honourable 
House,  who  also  added  the  penalty,  and  made  it  a 
misdemeanor  to  disobey  this  part  of  the  law :  of 
course,  offenders  against  it  may  be  punished  by  Jine 


384  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

and  imprisonment,  or,  as  I  am,  by  both,  at  the  dis- 
cretion, perhaps,  of  the  Judges  ;  but,  of  this  I  am  not 
sure,  not  having,  as  yet,  seen  the  Act  in  its  finished 
state. 

Thus,  then,  the  Bank  Company,  after  having  ap- 
plied to  the  Government  to  issue  an  Order  in  Council, 
after  having  subsequently  applied  for  acts  of  Par- 
liament, to  screen  them  against  the  consequences  of 
refusing  to  pay  their  promissory  notes  in  coin,  now 
see  a  law  passed  making  it  criminal,  for  any  one  to 
get  rid  of  any  of  those  notes  that  he  may  happen  to 
possess,  for  their  real  worth  in  coin  ! 

This  law  does  what  the  laws  already  in  existence 
could  not  do  in  the  case  of  DE  YONGE  ;  or,  at  least, 
it  attempts  to  do  it.  It  forbids  and  punishes  the 
selling  of  gold  coin  for  more  than  its  nominal  worth 
in  Bank  Notes,  which  was  precisely  what  DE  YONGE 
did.  But,  do  you  believe,  Gentlemen,  that  this  will 
put  a  stop  to  the  traffick?  I  should  think,  that  no- 
body could  believe  this  ;  and,  if  any  one  were  ift- 
clined  to  believe  it,  he  need  only  consider  the  little 
effect  produced  by  the  conviction  of  DE  YONGE,  to 
convince  him  of  the  contrary.  That  gentleman  was 
found  guilty  of  the  crime  of  selling  guineas  at 
twenty-two  shillings  and  sixpence  each,  and  while 
he  lay  under  that  conviction,  the  price  of  the  guinea 
rose  to  twenty- six  or  twenty-seven  shillings.  This 
is  a  pretty  good  proof  that  the  price  of  the  guinea  is 
not  to  be  kept  down  by  penal  laws.  But,  if  the  law 
should  put  an  end  to  all  purchases  of  gold  coin  in 
Bank  of  England  notes,  it  cannot  have  any  such 
effect  with  regard  to  country  bank  notes.  Suppose. 
for  instance,  that  one  of  you  had  a  fancy  for  a  hun- 
dred guineas  to  lay  snugly  aside,  and  I  had  them  to 
dispose  of;  the  price  would  be  1351.  but,  say  we,  the 
bargain  must  not  take  place  in  notes  of  the  Governor 
and  Company  in  Threadneedle  street,  for  so  says 
Lord  Stanhope's  law.  But  the  law  does  not  say, 
that  such  bargains  shall  not  be  made  in  country 
bank  notes  ;  and,  therefore,  you  give  me  135/,  in  the 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  385 

notes  of  Paperkite  and  Co.,  which  notes  will,  in 
all  probability,  answer  my  purpose  full  as  well  as 
the  London  notes,  or  better,  if  I  want  to  pay  them 
awav  in  the  country  ;  and,  if  they  should  not  answer 
my  purpose  quite  so  well,  what  have  I  to  do  but  go 
lo  the  country  banker  and  get  them  changed  for 
Bank  of  England  notes?  I  keep  the  country  bank 
notes  if  I  please,  and  if  I  please  I  change  them. 
This  is  one  way,  then,  and  a  most  effectual  way 
too,  of  rendering  the  Bill  of  no  use  as  to  its  main 
apparent  object. 

But,  how  many  are  the  ways,  in  which  such  a 
law  may,  must,  and  will  be  evaded  ?  It  is  a  law  in- 
tended to  make  people  part  with  their  property  for 
less  than  its  worth  in  the  one  case,  and  to  make  them 
obtain  for  it  more  than  it  is  worth  in  the  other  case. 
The  old  adage  of  "  a  thing  is  worth  what  it  will 
bring"  is,  by  this  law,  to  be  totally  destroyed  after 
having  lived  in  the  world  ever  since  purchase,  or  even 
barter,  was  known  amongst  men.  According  to  this 
law,  a  thing,  in  one  case,  will  be  worth  more  than 
it  is  to  be  suffered  to  bring,  and,  in  the  other  case,  a 
thing  will  not  bring  so  much  as  it  is  asserted  to  be 
worth.  It  is  a  law,  in  short,  to  compel  men  to  dis- 
pose of  certain  articles  of  their  property  (if  they  dis- 
pose of  them  at  all)  at  a  price  fixed  on  by  the  Go- 
vernment ;  and  is  such  a  law  as  never  was  heard  of 
before,  except  in  France,  during  the  times  of  Robes- 
pierre, Danton  and  Marat.  It  is,  as  Mr.  BROUGHAM 
has  called  it,  in  his  Resolutions,  a  law  of  maximum 
as  to  gold  coin ;  but,  it  is  a  law,  which  cannot  be 
generally  enforced,  and  which  can  have  only  a  tem- 
porary and  partial  effect,  if  any  at  all,  in  checking 
the  traffic  in  coin  against  paper ;  and  to  whatever 
extent  it  is  efficient,  it  will  be  efficient  in  driving 
all  the  coin  out  of  the  kingdom,  excepting  such  por- 
tion as  people  are  enabled  to  hoard  ;  for,  if  I  have 
a  guinea,  or  any  thing  else,  that  is  worth  27  shillings, 
and  if  there  be  a  law  which  prevents  me  from  get- 
ting at  present  in  England  more  than  21  shillings 
33 


386  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

for  it,  I  shall  certainly  hoard  it  till  I  can  get  the 
worth  of  it,  if  I  have  no  safe  means  of  sending  it 
abroad.  Where  is  the  man  who  will  not  do  this  ? 
I  am  sure  that  there  is  not  a  man  amongst  you  who 
would  not  do  it.  Yes,  I  am  sure,  that  there  is  not 
one  single  farmer  in  all  England,  who  will  not 
hoard  a  guinea  rather  than  exchange  it  for  a  bank 
note  of  twenty-one  shillings.  So  that,  as  I  have  ob- 
served to  you  before,  and  as  has  been  very  well  ex- 
pressed in  Mr.  BROUGHAM'S  Resolutions,  this  law 
will,  as  far  as  it  shall  be  efficient,  drive  the  little  re- 
mains of  gold  coin  into  hoards  or  out  of  the  country, 
and,  by  preventing  a  free  and  open  and  unrestrained 
competition  between  the  coin  and  the  paper,  will, 
as  far  as  it  has  effect,  prevent  the  operation  of  the 
only  cure  for  the  evil  of  a  depreciated  paper  money.* 

*  It  was  on  the  19th  of  July,  that  Mr.  BROUGHAM  proposed 
his  RESOLUTIONS  to  the  House  of  Commons.  They  were  nega- 
tived: and,  gentlemen,  I  beseech  you  to  compare  them  with 
such  resolutions  as  were  agreed  to  by  that  House.  These 
Resolutions  are  well  worthy  of  attention,  containing'as  they 
do,  what  will  become  a  memorable  protest  against  the  law, 
which  is  now  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  which  will  be  a 
subject  of  observation  with  our  children,  if  any  trace  of  it 
shall  remain  beyond  our  own  times. 

I.  That  by  the  Law  and  Constitution  of  these  Realms,  it 
is  the  undoubted  right  of  every  man  to  sell,  or  otherwise  dis- 
pose of,  his  property,  for  whatever  he  deems  to  be  its  value, 
or  whatever  consideration  he  chooses  to  accept.    And  that 
every  man  possessed  of  a  Bank  Note,  or  other  security,  for 
the  payment  of  money,  has  an  undoubted  right   to  give  it 
away  for  nothing,  or  in  exchange  for  whatever  sum  of  money 
he  pleases;  or  if  he  cannot  obtain  what  he  demands,  to  re- 
tain possession  of  it. 

II.  That  any  statute,  having  for  its  object  to  restrain  this 
right,  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  British  Con- 
stitution, and  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  most  sacred  Rights 
of  Property,  and  the  ancient  and  inalienable  Liberties  of  the 
People. 

HI.  That  any  statute,  having  for  its  object  to  prevent  the 
Bank,  or  other  Paper  Currency  of  the  Country,  from  being 
exchanged  against  the  lawful  money  of  the  Realm  below  a 
certain  rate,  would,  if  it  could  be  carried  into  effect,  cause  the 
lawful  money  of  the  Realm  to  disappear,  and  would  in  pro- 
portion to  its  efficacy,  preclude  the  application  of  the  most 
appropriate  remedies  for  the  present  derangement  in  the  cir- 
culation of  the  country. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  387 

I  have  before  observed,  that,  in  all  ready-money 
transactions,  this  law  must  be  nugatory,  and  I  have 
given  an  instance  of  a  farmer  having  a  pig  to  sell  at 
market.  It  will,  of  course,  be  the  same  in  all  other 
bargains  for  ready-money ;  and,  even  in  cases  of  cre- 
dit, amongst  friends  and  neighbours^  the  same  will 
take  place.  Some  roguery  may  be,  in  this  respectr 
created  by  the  law,  but  the  law  will  never  compel 
men  to  give  the  guinea  and  receive  the  note  at  their 
nominal  value,  one  compared  with  the  other.  In 
that  place,  where,  of  all  others,  one  might  expect 
to  see  the  dispositions  of  men  concur  with  this  law ; 
I  mean,  the  Stock  Exchange,  a  distinction  between 
coin  and  paper  is  already  made ;  for  Stock  has  fre- 
quently been  bought  with  guineas  at  a  price  much 
lower  than  the  rate  of  the  day,  which  rate  is  regulated 
upon  the  supposition  that  paper-money  is  to  be  the 

IV.  That  the  free  exchange  of  the  lawful  money  of  the 
realm  with  the  paper  currency,  on  such  terms  as  the  h9lders 
of  each  may  think  proper  to  settle  among  themselves,  is  not 
only  the  undoubted  right  of  the  subject,  but  affords  the  best 
means  of  restoring  the  circulation  of  the  country  to  its  sound 
and  natural  state,  by  establishing  twp  prices  for  all  commo- 
dities, whensoever  the  one  currency  is  from  any  causes  de- 
preciated below  the  other. 

V.  That  no  law  whatsoever  can  alter  the  real  value  of  the 
paper  currency  in  relation  to  the  lawful  money  of  the  Realm, 
nor  alter  the  real  value  of  either  kind  of  currency,  in  relation 
to  all  other  commodities ;  and  that  any  attempt  to  fix  the 
rates  at  which  paper  and  coin  shall  pass  current,  must,  in 
proportion  to  its  success,  interfere  with  the  fust  and  legal 
execution  of  all  contracts  already  existing,  without  the  possi- 
bility of  affecting  the  terms  upon  which  contracts  shall  be 
made  in  time  to  come. 

VI.  That  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  Commons  House  of 
Parliament,  as  the  guardians  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  to 
discountenance  and  resist  a  scheme  which  has  for  its  imme- 
diate objects  the  establishment  of  a  maximum  in  the  money- 
trade  of  the  realm,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  obligations  al- 
ready contracted  by  numerous  classes  of  the  community,  but 
which  has  for  its  ground  work  principles  leading  to  a  uni- 
versal law  of  maximum,  and  the  infraction  of  every  existing 
contract  for  the  payment  of  money ;  and  that  a  Bill  touching 
the  gold  coin  which  has  lately  been  brought  from  the  Lords, 
has  all  the  said  objects,  and  proceeds  upon  the  said  principles. 


388  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

medium.  And,  who  is  to  prevent  this,  without  a 
general  law  of  maximum  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  law  put- 
ting a  price  upon  all  commodities  whatever,  and 
punishing  men  for  selling  them  for  more  than  the 
price  so  fixed?  This  present  law,  therefore,  is  no- 
thing of  itself.  It  is  nothing  unaccompanied  with 
a  maximum  of  prices.  Those  who  have  begun  in 
this  path,  must  keep  on,  and  go  the  whole  length,  or 
they  do  nothing  at  all,  except  drive  coin  out  of  the 
country  or  into  the  hoards,  and,  perhaps,  in  many 
cases,  cause  a  breach  of  contracts  between  man  and 
man.  To  be  a  maximum  they  must  come  at  last,  or 
what  is  done  will  be  of  no  effect  at  all. 

The  other  provision  of  the  Bill  relates  to  distress 
for  rent,  and  is  as  follows  :  "  And  be  it  enacted,  by 
the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in  case  any  person  shall 
proceed  by  distress  to  recover  from  any  tenant  or 
other  person  liable  to  such  distress,  any  rent  or  sum 
of  money  due  from  such  tenant  or  other  person,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  such  tenant  or  other  person,  in 
every  such  case,  to  tender  notes  of  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England,  expressed 
to  be  payable  on  demand,  to  the  amount  and  in  dis- 
charge of  such  rent  or  sum  so  due  to  the  person  on 
whose  behalf  such  distress  is  made,  or  to  the  officer 
or  person  making  such  distress  on  his  behalf ;  and 
in  case  such  tender  shall  be  accepted,  or  in  case  such 
tender  shall  be  made  and  refused,  the  goods  taken 
in  such  distress  shall  be  forthwith  returned  to  the 
party  distressed  upon,  unless  the  party  distraining 
and  refusing  to  accept  such  tender  shall  insist  that  a 
.greater  sum  is  due  than  the  sum  so  tendered,  and  in 
such  case  the  parties  shall  proceed  as  usual  in  such 
cases ;  but  if  it  shall  appear  that  no  more  was  due 
than  the  sum  so  tendered,  then  the  party  who  ten- 
dered such  sum  shall  be  entitled  to  the  costs  of  all 
subsequent  proceedings :  Provided  always,  that  'the 
person  to  whom  such  rent  or  sum  of  money  is  due 
shall  have  and  be  entitled  to  all  such  other  reme- 
dies for  the  recovery  thereof,  exclusive  of  distress. 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  389 

such  person  had  or  was  entitled  to  at  the  time 
of  making  such  distress,  if  such  person  shall  not 
think  proper  to  accept  such  tender  so  made  as 
aforesaid  :  Provided  also,  that  nothing  herein  con- 
tained shall  affect  the  right  of  any  tenant,  or  other 
such  person  as  aforesaid,  having  such  right  to  re- 
plevy  the  goods  taken  in  distress,  in  case,  without 
making  such  tender  as  aforesaid,  he  shall  so  think  fit." 
Now,  what  does  this  part  of  the  Bill  effect  ?  It  has 
frequently  heen  said,  that  the  tenantry  ought  to  be 
protected,  and  Lord  Stanhope  has  all  along  said,  that 
his  object  was  to  protect  the  tenant.  What,  then, 
has  this  Bill  done  for  the  tenant?  If  the  thing 
leased  be  a  farm,  or  lands  of  any  sort,  distress  is  not 
the  mode  that  the  landlord  would  pursue.  He  has 
other  remedies,  and  those  much  more  efficient  than 
that  of  distress.  So  that,  in  fact,  this  law  affords  no 
protection  at  all  to  the  tenant. 

But,  though  this  law  will  do  the  tenant  no  good,  it 
may,  and,  in  some  cases,  will,  do  him  a  great  deal 
of  harm,  especially  as  the  minister  has  avowed  his 
intention  of  making  the  bank  notes  a  legal  tender  if 
this  law  should  prove  insufficient  for  the  object  in 
view.  Under  such  circumstances,  no  man  in  his 
senses,  will  let  a  new  lease,  or  renew  an  old  one; 
for,  though  a  corn-rent  might  possibly  serve  to  guard 
him  against  the  total  loss  of  his  estate,  still  he  will 
be  afraid,  and  he  will  think  it  the  safest  way  to  let 
no  lease  at  all.  Tenants  for  term  of  years  will, 
therefore,  become  tenants  at  will,  and  will  have 
their  rents  raised  upon  them  every  year,  agreeably 
to  the  depreciation  of  money  and  the  rise  in  prices ; 
and,  another  consequence  will  be,  that  landlords 
will,  whenever  it  is  practicable,  take  the  lands  into 
their  own  possession  and  use,  seeing  that  even  a 
yearly  letting  may,  in  the  times  that  may  arise,  be- 
come dangerous  ;  for,  if  a  law  be  passed  to-day  in 
consequence  of  a  single  landlord's  demanding  his 
rent  according  to  law,  what  have  not  landlords  to 
fear  ?  The  safest  course,  therefore,  that  they  can 
33* 


390  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

pursue,  is  to  keep,  as  far  as  they  are  able,  their  farms 
in  their  own  hands  ;  and  this,  to  a  very  great  extent, 
they  certainly  will  do.  So  that  this  law,  as  far  as  it 
is  efficient,  will  produce  a  virtual  violation  of  con- 
tracts, and  a  discouragement  to  agriculture. 

During  the  discussions  upon  this  measure,  several 
hints  were  thrown  out  as  to  the  courts  of  law  set- 
ting their  faces  against  those  who  should  demand 
payment  in  gold.  Sir  SAMUEL  ROMILLY  observed 
upon  what  Mr.  Manning  said  about  the  law  being 
too  strong  for  the  landlords,  that  it  alarmed  him  to 
hear  such  language  ;  and  that  he  thought  it  danger- 
ous in  the  extreme  to  expose  men  to  such  an  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  real  meaning  of  the  law.  But  Mr. 
FULLER  and  Lord  STANHOPE,  as  appears  from  the  re- 
ports of  the  newspapers,  came  to  the  point  at  once. 
The  former  is  reported  to  have  Said,  in  the  debate 
of  the  9th  of  July,  that  "  he  wondered  to  hear  any 
doubt  of  the  solvency  of  Government ;  and  Govern- 
ment surely  had  ships  and  stores,  and  plenty  of  va- 
luables besides.  He  (Mr.  Fuller)  did  not  under- 
stand the  objects  of  the  persons  who  had  brought 
forward  the  question,  but  he  was  convinced  they 
were  something  sinister.  (A  laugh.)  As  to  Bank 
notes,  if  any  landlord  was  offered  payment  in  them, 
and  he  wanted  gold,  he  (Mr.  Fuller)  did  not  know 
what  might  be  done ;  but  of  this  he  was  sure,  that 
THE  WHOLE  TENANTRY  OF  THE  COUN- 
TRY WOULD  MEET  AND  TOSS  HIM  IN 
A  BLANKET.  (Laughing.")  And  the  latter  is 
reported  to  have  said,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the 
22nd  of  July,  that,  "  his  Noble  Friend  (Earl  of  Lau- 
derdale)  had  called  the  Bill  a  legislative  HINT  ; 
but  it  was  a  pretty  broad  hint,  too.  He  did  not  know 
whether  his  Noble  Friend  had  been  educated  at  any 
of  the  Universities  ;  but  he  believed  not  at  Oxford. 
There  was  a  story  there  about  a  broad  hint  which 
they  called  c  John  Kea.le's  broad,  hint.'  There  was 
a  man  that  John  Keale  did  not  like  ;  John  gave  him 
a  hint  that  he  did  not  like  his  company:  but  he 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD,  391 

would  not  go  away.  <  What  did  you  do  then?'  says 
one  to  John.  '  Do,'  says  John  Keale,  {  why,  I 
kicked  him  down  stairs.'  '  That  was  a  pretty  broad 
hint ! ! !'  (Laughing.)  So  he,  (Earl  Stanhope,) 
had  given  Lord  King  a  hint ;  and  if  he  followed 
up  this  business,  why,  when  next  Session  came,  he 
would  give  him  a  BROAD  hint !"  (A  laugh.) 
"  Quite  a  wit,  I  declare  ;  Quite  a  sea-wit,  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin !"  Well,  you  know,  Gentlemen,  that  there  is 
a  time  for  all  things,  and,  of  course,  a  time  for 
laughing.  But,  it  is  well  worthy  of  remark,  that 
this  war  (for  it  is  the  same  that  began  in  1793)  was 
waared  in  the  "PRESERVATION  OF  LIBERTY 
AND  PROPERTY  AGAINST  REPUBLICANS 
AND  LEVELLERS,"  that  was  the  title  of  the 
Association  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor.  This  is  well 
worthy  of  remark ;  now  is  the  time  to  make  such 
remark.  This  war  has  now  been  going  on  eighteen 
years ;  this  war  for  the  support  of  order  and  law 
and  property,  and  now,  behold,  we  hear,  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Parliament,  the  supporters  of  this  system, 
talk  of  tossing  a  landlord  in  a  blanket  and  kicking- 
him  down  stairs,  if  he  should  persist  in  demanding 
payment  of  his  rents,  agreeably  to  the  contract  in 
his  leases  ! 

Gentlemen,  if  you  have  read  the  reports  of  the 
debates  in  Parliament,  upon  this  subject,  you  must 
have  observed,  that  the  people  in  the  ministry  have 
very  loudly  disapproved  of  the  conduct  of  LORD 
KING  for  demanding  of  his  tenants  payment  in  gold, 
or  in  notes  in  sufficient  amount  to  make  up  for  the 
depreciation  of  money.  Now,  observe  ;  they  have 
brought  forward,  several  times,  propositions  for  large 
grants  to  the  King  and  to  others,  on  account  of  the 
rise  in  prices,  which,  as  I  have  already  explained 
to  you,  is  only  another  name  for  the  depreciation  of 
money.  I  beg  you  to  mark  well  what  I  am  now 
going  to  state  to  you ;  because  it  will  give  you  a 
clear  insight  into  this  whole  matter. 

In  1802,  eight  years  ago,  a  large  sum  of  money, 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  392 

no  less  a  sum  than  990,053Z.  (why  not  have  made  it 
a  round  million  ?)  was  granted  by  Parliament  "  to 
the  King,  to  discharge  the  arrears  and  debts  due 
upon  the  CIVIL  LIST  on  the  5th  of  January,  1802." 
The  Civil  List,  Gentlemen,  is  the  King's  establish- 
ment of  servants  and  officers  of  different  sorts,  and, 
in  short,  of  all  his  expenses.  The  King  had  a  per- 
manent allowance,  fixed  by  Act  of  Parliament,  of 
800,000/.  a  year  for  these  purposes  ;  but,  in  1802 
(the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of)  the  Civil  List 
had  got  into  debt ;  and  the  then  Minister,  Adding- 
ton,  taking  advantage  of  the  national  satisfaction  at 
the  Peace  of  Amiens,  proposed  a  grant  of  the  above 
sum,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  off  this  debt.  Mr 
Fox  and  others  opposed  the  grant ;  but  it  was  sup 
ported  by  PITT,  GEORGE  ROSE,  and  the  majority,  and 
upon  a  division  there  were  226  for  it  and  only  51 
against.  And,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  grant 
was  justified  by  PITT  on  this  ground  :  that  it  did  not 
make  an  increase  to  the  Civil  List  equal  in  proportion 
"  to  the  increase  of  the  price  of  commodities,  and 
to  THE  DEPRECIATION  OF  MONEY."  So 
he  said ;  so  they  all  said  ;  and  the  assertion  was 
sanctioned  by  a  vote  of  the  House  granting  990,0532. 
to  the  King.  Now,  then,  if  the  King  was  to  have  a 
grant  like  this,  on  account  of  the  past  depreciation 
of  money,  why  should  Lord  King  be  reviled,  why 
should  he  be  tossed  in  a  blanket,  or  kicked  down 
stairs,  for  demanding  payment  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  him  some  security  for  future  depreciation  of 
money,  especially  when  we  consider,  that  he  only 
demanded  the  fulfilment  of  a  bargain^  while  the 
grant  to  the  King  was  over  and  above  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  bargain  made  with  him  by  the  pvblic  ? 

But,  did  the  demands  for  the  King  stop  here  ? — 
Very  far  from  it ;  for,  in  the  year  1804,  (only  two 
years  afterwards,)  PITT,  who  was  then  come  back 
into  power,  called  for  another  grant  for  a  similar 
purpose,  to  no  less  an  amount  than  591,8422.  3s.  W^d. 
.How  scrupulously  exact  the  Gentleman  was !  To 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  393 

a  halfpenny,  you  see  !  Oh,  wondrous  financier ! 
This  grant  also  was  made,  and  without  any  division 
of  thu  House  ;  though  it  was  strenuously  opposed  by 
SIR  FRANCIS  BURDETT,  upon  the  ground  of  its  being 
a  departure  from  a  bargain  with  the  public,  and  of 
the  practice  of  making  such  grants  being  calculated 
to  render  the  Royal  Family  absolutely  dependent 
upon  the  Minister  of  the  day.  This  grant  also  was 
justified  upon  the  ground  that  morney  had  depreci- 
ated and  the  prices  of  all  commodities  increased. 
This  grant  was  accompanied  with  a  permanent  ad- 
dition to  the  Civil  List  of  60,OOOZ.  a  year  ;  and,  in- 
deed, the  annual  sum,  now  paid  by  the  people  on 
that  account  is  958,0002.  exclusive  of  295,9682.  Is.  S%d. 
in  allowances  and  pensions  to  the  Royal  Family,  be- 
sides the  amount  of  sinecure  places  and  military 
offices  that  some  members  of  the  Family  enjoy  ;  the 
propriety  or  impropriety  of  none  of  which  I  am  dis- 
cussing, but  it  is  necessary  to  state  them  in  order  to 
enable  you  to  judge  of  the  fairness  of  the  attacks  upon 
Lord  KING,  who  only  wanted  a  bare  fulfilment  of 
contract  with  regard  to  his  own  private  estate  ;  who 
only  wanted  to  save  himself  from  ruin  from  the 
future  depreciation  of  money,  and  who  gave  up  to 
his  tenants  all  they  had  gained  from  him  by  the  past. 
Now,  Gentlemen,  I  beg  you  to  observe,  that  this 
second  grant  to  the  King ;  this  grant  of  £591,842 
was  to  pay  off  what  he  had  lost  in  two  years  by 
the  depreciation  of  money;  and,  you  will  also  ob- 
serve, and  mark  it  well,  that  these  are  two  out 
of  the  nine  years  that  have  elapsed  since  Lord 
King-  let  the  Estate,  respecting  the  rent  of  which 
you  have  seen  his  notice  to  his  tenant.  The 
King,  in  1802,  had  a  fixed  allowance  of  £800,000  a 
year  out  of  the  public  money ;  and  at  the  end  of  only 
two  years,  his  advisers  find  him  to  require  a  grant  of 
£591,842  on  account  of  the  depreciation  of  money; 
that  is  to  say,  £295,921  in  each  of  the  two  years. 
More  than  30  per  cent,  per  annum  I  And,  is  Lord 
King;  after  having  silently  suffered  under  the  gradual 


394  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLIX 

depreciation  for  nine  years,  to  be  attacked  in  this 
manner ;  is  he  to  be  lumped  along  with  Jews  and 
Pedlers  and  Smugglers  ;  is  he  to  have  a  hint  that 
he  will  be  kicked  down  stairs  or  tossed  in  a  blanket, 
because  he  now,  when  he  sees  the  guinea  selling  at 
25,  or  26,  or  27s.  is  resolved  to  have  a  fulfilment  of 
his  bargain,  and  not  to  be  wholly  ruined  by  this  de- 
preciation of  money  ? 

But,  Gentlemen,  this  principle  of  augmenting  al-  • 
lowances  out  of  the  public  treasure,  on  account  of   ' 
the  depreciation  of  money,  has  not  been  confined  to  j 
the  King  and  his  family.     It  has  been  acted  upon 
in  almost  all  the  departments  under  the  Government,   j 
the  army  and  navy  excepted,  where,  as  far  as  relates 
to  the  Commissioned  Officers  especially,  little  aug-  j 
mentation  has  taken  place.     I  will,  however,  here   ] 
confine  myself  to  one   particular  class  of  persons,   j 
namely,  THE  JUDGES  ;  and  I  do  it  the  rather  be- 
cause it  has  been  hinted  pretty   broadly,  that  the  j 
Courts  of  Law  would  set  their  faces  against  the   •< 
efforts  of  those,  who  might  attempt  to  enforce  pay- 
ment in  gold. 

Be  it  known  to  you,  then,  Gentlemen,  that  the  | 
Judges'  pay  has  had  two  lifts  since  the  Bank  stopped   j 
its  payments  in  gold  and  silver.     The  first  was  in  j 
the  year  1799,  two  years  only  after  the  passing  of  J 
our  famous  Bank  Restriction  Act.     The  two  Chief  ] 
Judges,  whose  incomes  were  very  large,  underwent  j 
no  augmentation  by  Act  of  Parliament ;  but,  the  pay   j 
of  all  the  rest  was  augmented  by  the  Act,  Chapter 
110,  of  the  30th  year  of  the  King's  reign;  and,  no 
trifling  augmentation  did  their  pay  receive,  it  being  \ 
upon  an  average  nearly,  if  not  quite,  half  the  whole 
amount  of  their  former  pay.     The  Chief  Baron  of 
the  Exchequer  had  £1,000  a  year  added  to  his  for-  . 
mer  £3,000  a  year ;  and  all  the  nine  Puisne  Judges 
had  £1,000  each  added  to  their  former  pay,  which  j 
was  in  some  cases  a  little  more  and  in  some  cases  a  I 
little  less  than  £2,000  a  year  before.     And,  besides 
this,  the  Act  enabled  the  King,  that  is  to  say,  his 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  395 

advisers,  to  make  a  permanent  provision  for  any 
judge  that  might  become  superannuated,  and  it  fixed 
on  great  pensions  for  them  in  this  case,  which  pen- 
sions can,  in  consequence  of  that  Act,  be  granted 
without  any  particular  consent  of  the  Parliament, 
which  was  not  the  case  before.  Mr.  TIERNEY  op- 
posed this  measure  in  a  very  able  manner.  He  said, 
that  the  House  of  Commons  would  thus  lose  all  check 
and  control  as  to  such  remunerations;  and  that  the 
influence  of  the  Crown  would  be  thus  greatly  and 
most  fearfully  enlarged.  The  measure  was,  however, 
j  adopted  ;  and  thus  the  Judges,  in  Scotland  as  well 
(as  in  England,  received  an  ample  compensation, 
for  the  depreciation  of  money,  up  to  the  year  1797. 
Having  gone  on  with  this  pay  for  ten  years,  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  thought  time  to  give  them  another 
lift,  and,  accordingly,  an  Act  for  this  purpose  was 
passed  in  the  year  1809,  of  which  the  people  seem 
to  have  taken  not  the  least  notice.  It  seems  to  have 
escaped  every  body's  attention  ;  but,  indeed,  the  Acts 
now  passed  are  so  numerous,  that  it  is  next  to  im- 
possible for  any  single  man  to  be  able  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  them  all,  or  to  a  quarter  part  of  them.  This 
Act,  which  is  Chapter  127  of  the  49th  year  of  the 
King's  reign,  makes  an  addition  of  £1,000  a  year,  to 
the  pay  of  the  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer ;  also 
an  addition  of  £1.000  a  year,  to  each  of  the  nine 
Puisne  Judges ;  and  it  gives  an  additional  £400  a 
year  to  each  of  the  Welsh  Judges.  Thus,  at  the 
end  of  twelve  years  from  the  time  when  the  Bank 
stopped  paying  in  gold,  the  pay  of  the  English  Judges 
was  nearly  doubled ;  and,  shall  my  Lord  King  be 
represented  as  a  pedler,  a  jew,  and  a  smuggler,  be- 
cause, at  the  end  of  nine,  years  of  depreciation  of 
money,  he  wishes  to  put  a  stop  to  the  ruinous  pro- 
gress ?  And  shall  he  be  threatened  with  the  hos- 
tility of  these  same  Judges,  in  case  he  should  attempt 
to  enforce  his  legal  claim  ?  Shall  he  be  told  about 
being  fought  off  in  the  Courts,  and  about  the  law 
being  too  strong  for  him? 


396  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

At  the  time  when  these  Acts  were  passed  for  aug- 
menting the  pay  of  the  Judges,  one  of  the  arguments 
was,  that  such  augmentation  was  necessary  to  sup- 
port the  DIGNITY  of  the  office  of  Judge.  Now, 
in  what  way  was  an  increase  of  pay  to  produce  such 
an  effect  ?  Certainly  in  no  other  way  than  that  of 
enabling  the  Judge  to  augment  his  expenses  of  living ; 
for,  as  to  his  authority,  as  to  his  powers,  as  to  his 
station,  the  money  would  make  no  alteration  at  all 
in  them.  This  being  the  case,  there  appears  to  have 
been  no  good  reason  for  augmenting  the  Judges'  pay 
any  more  than  the  pay  of  the  officers  of  the  Navy, 
or  of  any  other  persons  in  the  public  employ.  Mr. 
TIERNEY  used,  at  the  time  when  the  first  augmenta- 
tion was  proposed,  an  argument  very  applicable  to 
our  present  purpose :  "  If,"  said  he,  "  an  augmen- 
tation of  income  be  necessary  to  support  the  station 
of  the  Judge,  has  the  country  no  interest  in  enabling 
the  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Ministers  of 
the  Church,  or  the  Magistrates,  to  maintain  their  sta- 
tion in  society?  If  the  circumstances  of  a  Judge, 
who  has  £2,000  a  year,  require  that  he  should  have 
an  additional  £1,000,  we  know  very  well  what  must 
be  the  situation  of  a  private  Gentleman  with  an  in- 
come of  £2,000  a  year." 

This  argument  applies  precisely  to  Lord  King. 
The  answer  to  Mr.  Tierney  was,  that  the  private 
Gentleman,  if  his  estate  was  in  land,  would,  of 
course,  raise  his  rents  in  order  to  make  his  income 
keep  pace  with  the  depreciation  of  money.  But  the 
reply  to  this  is,  that  if  his  estate  was  let  upon  lease, 
as  Lord  King's  is,  he  could  not  raise  his  rents,  till  the 
expiration  of  that  lease  ;  and  if  he  let  a  farm  upon 
a  fourteen  years'  lease  in  the  year  1798,  he  has  been 
receiving  money  at  the  rate  of  that  time,  during  the 
last  thirteen  years,  whereas  the  pay  of  the  Judges 
has  been  doubled  in  the  space  of  twelve  of  those 
years.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  situation  of  Lord  King. 
Either,  therefore,  it  was  not  necessary,  and  it  was 
not  just  to  augment  the  pay  of  the  Judges  in  any 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  397 

degree ;  or,  it  is  extremely  unjust  that  Lord  King 
should  be  prevented  from  augmenting  his  income. 
Indeed  he  has  had,  till  now,  all  the  legal  means  of 
making  his  income  keep  pace  with  the  depreciation 
of  money,  by  demanding  his  rents  in  gold ;  that  is 
to  say,  agreeably  to  the  terms  of  the  contract,  in  good 
and  lawful  money  of  the  realm. 

This  legal,  this  equitable,  this  fair,  this  honest, 
this  indubitable  claim,  he  was  preparing  to  enforce, 
when  my  Lord  Stanhope  steps  forward  with  the 
proposition  of  a  law  avowedly  intended  to  prevent 
him  from  so  doing ;  to  throw  impediments  in  his 
way  ;  to  interfere  in  the  management  of  his  estates  ; 
to  take  from  him  part  of  the  legal  means  which  he 
before  possessed  of  preserving  his  property ;  and,  for 
having  signified  his  intention  to  use  those  means,  he 
is  held  forth  as  a  jew,  a  pedler,  and  a  smuggler.  I 
have  observed,  that  Mr.  SHERIDAN  has  taken  part 
upon  this  occasion  with  those  who  have  censured 
Lord  KING.  And  this  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  he 
has  seldom  taken  part  in  any  discussion  whatever. 
Is  Mr.  SHERIDAN  aware  of  the  consequences  to  which 
this  may  lead  ?  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  tell  him, 
that  the  day  must  not  be  far  distant,  when  the  CIVIL 
LIST  will  have  to  be  settled  anew ;  and  I  should  be 
glad  to  know  whether,  in  that  settlement,  it  is  likely 
to  be  the  wish  of  the  parties  concerned,  that  the  sum 
should  be  fixed  as  if  it  were  to  be  paid  in  gold. 
Whether,  in  short,  the  amount  of  the  Civil  List 
would  be  fixed  for  the  future,  at  its  present  amount. 
But,  if  that  were  not  to  be  the  case,  how  could  a 
larger  amount  be  proposed  or  supported  by  those 
who  have  now  railed  at  the  conduct  of  Lord  King  ? 

Endless  are  the  difficulties,  into  which  those  have 
plunged  themselves,  who  have  reprobated  the  con- 
duct of  this  nobleman  as  unjust,  or  who  have  repre- 
sented it  as  unwise.  Such  persons  will  hardly 
muster  up  the  resolution  to  make  a  frank  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  error;  and  yet,  if  they  do  not  do 
this,  with  what  face  can  they  propose,  or  support,  or 
34 


398  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

sanction,  either  expressly  or  tacitly,  any  measure 
which  shall  have  for  its  object,  the  preservation  of 
the  Grown,  the  Royal  Family,  the  Army,  the  Navy, 
the  Courts  of  Justice,  or  any  department  of  the  state, 
against  the  effects  of  the  depreciation  of  money  ? 
The  measure  of  Lord  King  fell  far  short  of  the  jus- 
tice due  to  himself,  for,  though  the  money  had  de- 
preciated considerably  at  the  date  of  his  oldest  leases, 
still,  it  has  gone  on  depreciating  further  from  that 
time  to  this.  He,  therefore,  would  have  been  fairly 
entitled  to  payment  in  Gold,  and  nothing  else,  for 
the  remainder  of  those  old  leases.  But,  pursuing  a 
moderate  and  liberal  course,  he  restrained  his  de- 
mands far  within  their  legal  bounds.  With  a  con- 
siderateness  that  does  him  great  honour,  he  suffered 
his  tenants  quietly  to  retain  what  they  had  gained 
during  the  past,  and  only  required  of  them  a  due  ful- 
filment of  contract  for  the  future,  which  was  not  less 
necessary  to  the  welfare  of  his  tenants,  than  it  was 
to  his  own  protection ;  because  without  such  a  mea- 
sure, it  was  impossible  they  ever  could  obtain  a  re- 
newal of  their  leases. 

Much,  during  the  discussions  upon  this  famous 
Bill,  has  been  said  about  patriotism :  and  Lord 
King  has  been  charged  with  a  want  of  that  quality, 
because  he  made  the  demand,  of  which  so  much  has 
been  said.  But,  if  Lord  King,  in  barely  demanding 
the  fulfilment  of  a  contract  in  order  to  protect  him- 
self against  the  effects  of  the  depreciation  of  money ; 
if  Lord  King,  in  barely  appealing  to  the  law  already 
in  existence  for  his  protection  against  this  ruinous 
effect  of  paper  money  ;  if,  for  this,  Lord  King  is  to 
be  accused  of  a  want  of  patriotism,  and  is  to  be 
lumped  with  Jews,  Pedlers,  and  Smugglers,  what 
will  be  the  inference  with  regard  to  the  King  and 
Royal  Family,  and  my  Lords  the  Judges,  to  protect 
whom  against  the  effects  of  depreciation,  laws  have 
been  passed,  laws  proposed  by  the  minister  of  the 
day  and  sanctioned  by  the  majority.  Lord  King 
comes  for  no  law  to  protect  him ;  he  asks  for  no  law 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  399 

against  his  tenants  ;  he  only  wants  his  due  accord- 
ing to  the  existing  law;  and  yet,  he  is,  and  by  the 
very  people,  too,  who  approved  of  the  above-men- 
tioned large  grants  to  the  King  and  the  Judges,  ac- 
cused of  a  want  of  patriotism  ! 

The  venal  prints  have  not  failed  to  join  in  the  ac- 
cusations against  Lord  King,  whom  the  COURIER,  on 
the  5th  instant,  charges  with  motives  of  "  base  lu- 
cre" as  the  ATTORNEY  GENERAL  did  me,  and  with 
precisely  the  same  degree  of  justice.  The  article 
here  referred  to  in  the  COURIER  concludes  with  some 
observations  as  to  the  duty  of  patriotism,  in  this 
case  ;  and  says,  that,  "  On  an  occasion  in  which 
ALL  SUFFER,  the  man  who  first  abandons  the 
general  cause  for  his  own  personal  interests,  must 
needs  make  a  very  sorry  figure  before  the  world,  just 
like  the  coward  who  is  the  first  to  fly  in  battle, 
while  victory  is  doubtful.  But  if  this  man  were  a 
high  officer,  a  Legislator,  an  hereditary  Counsellor 
of  his  Sovereign,  whose  peculiar  duty  it  is  to  set  an 
example  of  bravery,  of  fortitude,  of  contempt  for 
personal  consequences  in  the  general  cause,  with 
what  feelings  could  we  view  his  conduct  ?"  Now 
it  is  to  be  observed  here,  that  all  this  talk  about  the 
public  cause  is  most  shocking  nonsense,  and  what 
no  man  in  the  world  besides  one  of  these  hirelings 
would  be  found  to  put  upon  paper.  But,  if  to  de- 
mand merely  the  fulfilment  of  contracts  in  order  to 
preserve  his  fortune  against  the  effects  of  deprecia- 
tion of  money,  if  this  be  to  "  abandon  the  general 
cause  for  his  own  personal  interests"  if  this  be  to 
resemble  "  a  coward  who  is  the  first  to  flee  in  bat- 
tle" how  will  this  venal  man  speak  of  the  King  and 
Royal  Family  and  the  Judges?  The  King  has, 
since  the  year  1799,  had  two  great  grants  in  aug- 
mentation of  the  sum  allowed  him,  the  Junior 
Branches  of  the  Royal  Family  have  had  one  addi- 
tional grant,  (in  1806,)  and  the  Judges  have,  as  we 
have  above  seen,  had  their  pay  doubled,  actually 
doubled,  since  that  time.  And  yet  this  venal  man 


400  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

accuses  Lord  King,  of  "  BASE  LUCRE,"  because 
he  is  endeavouring  to  get  what  is  his  due  ;  because 
he  is  endeavouring  to  get  his  own;  because  he  is 
trying  to  protect  himself  against  that  ruin  which  he 
foresees  will  come  upon  him,  if  he  does  not  now  be- 
gin to  obtain  the  fulfilment  of  his  contracts. 

"On  an  occasion,"  says  this  venal  man,  in  "which 
ALL  suffer."  No :  not  all.  The  King  has  not  suf- 
fered from  the  depreciation,  nor  have  the  Judges, 
whose  pay  has  been,  as  we  have  seen,  actually  dou- 
bled since  the  stoppage  of  cash  payments  took  place, 
and  who,  of  course,  would  be  now  as  well  off  as 
they  were  before  that  time,  if  the  pound  bank  note 
were  worth  only  ten  shillings,  and  Mr.  HORNER 
tells  us  it  is  yet  worth  about  sixteen  shillings. 
"  ALL"  do  not  suffer,  then.  The  Judges,  so  far 
from  suffering  have  gained  very  greatly  ;  and  yet, 
no  one  has  ever  charged  them  with  motives  ot 
"  BASE  LUCRE."  The  Judges  of  England  alone 
have  received,  since  the  year  1799,  in  virtue  of  the 
two  Acts  above-mentioned,  no  less  a  sum  than 
£120,000,  that  is,  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
pounds  of  principal  money,  more  than  they  would 
have  received  had  not  these  two  grants  been  made 
to  them ;  and  if  we  include  the  interest,  as  in  all 
such  calculations  we  must,  they  have  received,  since 
1799,  over  and  above  their  former  pay,  about  £145,000. 
And  yet,  my  Lord  Kins:  is,  by  this  venal  scribe,  ac- 
cused'of  motives  of  "BASE  LUCRE,"  because  he 
wishes  to  prevent  the  whole  of  his  income  from  be- 
ing sunk  in  the  depreciation  of  money.  The  Judges 
have  actually  put  in  their  pockets  this  large  sum  of 
money  ;  they  have  actually  touched  it  since  the  year 
1799,  and,  of  course,  the  National  Debt  is  so  much 
the  greater  on  that  account  ;  the  interest  upon  that 
Debt  is  so  much  the  greater  on  that  account ;  the 
quantity  of  bank  notes  to  pay  the  Dividends  is  so 
much  trie  greater  on  that  account ;  and,  of  course, 
these  two  Acts  of  Parliament  have  tended,  in  some 
degree,  to  hasten  the  depreciation,  and  to  produce 


PAPER  AGAIN3T  GOLD.  401 

the  very  effect  which  now  threatens  to  ruin  Lord 
King,  and  to  find  out  a  remedy  for  which,  puzzles 
so  many  men  who  think  themselves  wise.  Lord 
King's  measure  does  not  tend  to  add  to  the  National 
Debt ;  it  tends  to  produce  no  addition  to  the  Divi- 
dends or  the  bank  paper ;  it  is  a  mere  measure  of 
management  of  his  private  affairs  which  does  not 
trench  upon  the  public  good  in  any  way  whatever ; 
and  yet,  he  is  lumped  along  with  Jews,  Pedlers, 
and  Smugglers,  and  is  accused  of  a  want  of  pa- 
triotism ! 

This  writer  tells  us,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  such 
a  man  as  Lord  King  to  set  an  example  of  "'contempt 
of  personal  consequences"  meaning,  of  course,  pe- 
cuniary consequences,  But,  was  it  more  his  duty, 
than  it  was  the  duty  of  the  King,  the  Royal  Family } 
and  the  Judges  ?  He  says  that  Kord  King  ought  to 
have  done  it,  as  being  an  hereditary  counsellor  of 
the  Crown.  If  Lord  King  had  had  much  to  do  in 
counselling  the  Crown,  the  present  subject  would, 
perhaps,  never  have  been  discussed ;  but,  be  that  as 
it  may,  was  it  more  his  duty  to  set  an  example  of 
contempt  of  pecuniary  consequences  than  it  was  of 
the  King  ?  Was  it  more  his  duty  than  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  Judges  ?  Was  no  example  of  this  sort  to 
be  expected  from  them,  while  it  was  to  be  expected 
from  him  ?  And,  I  beg  you  t.o  observe  the  wide  differ- 
ence between  the  case  of  the  Judges  and  that  of 
Lord  King*  No  new  law  is  made  to  favour  the  in- 
terests of  the  latter ;  but,  a  new  law  is  made,  and 
afterwards  another  new  law,  to  favour  the  interests 
of  the  former.  Lord  King  does  not  attempt  to  ob- 
tain any  real  addition  to  his  original  rents  ;  but 
there  is  granted  to  the  Judges  a  very  large  real  ad- 
dition to  their  original  pay.  The  COURIER  rails 
upon  LORD  KING  to  suffer  quietly  for  the  good  of  his 
country.  His  suffering  would  not  do  the  country 
any  good,  but  a  great  deal  of  harm.  But,  upon  the 
supposition  that  it  would  do  the  country  good,  what 
does  the  same  man  say  about  the  augmentation  of 
34* 


402          PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

the  pay  of  the  Judges  ?  When  the  augmentation  to 
the  pay  of  these  persons  was  under  discussion,  Mr. 
PERCEVAL  (who  was  then  a  barrister)  argued,  that 
the  Judges  ought  to  have  quite  enough  to  maintain 
them  in  all  their  state  without  touching  their  pri- 
vate fortunes;  and,  observe,  this  he  said  at  the 
very  time,  in  that  very  year,  1799,  when  Old  George 
Rose,  who  was  then  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Treasury  at  £4,000  a  year,  and  who  had  another 
good  £4,000  a  year  in  sinecure  places,  was  preach- 
ing up  to  "  the  most  thinking  people  of  all  Europe," 
his  doctrine  of  sacrifices  and  salvage,  a  specimen  of 
which  I  gave  you  in  my  last  Letter.  "  The  impe- 
rious and  awful  necessity  of  the  present  crisis," 
said  GEORGE,  "  unavoidably  subjects  US  to  heavy 
burdens.  It  has  been  said,  that  they  ought  to  be 
considered  as  a  SALVAGE  for  the  remaining  part 
of  OUR  property.  The  metaphor,  though  just,  is 
inadequate;  for  what  Tariff  shall  settle  the  differ- 
ence between  the  BLESSED  COMFORTS  OF 
RELIGION  and  the  GLOOMY  DESPAIR  OF 
ATHEISM."  George  talks  of  "  US"  and  of 
"  OUR"  property  ;  but  HE  was  gaining  all  the 
while  ;  aye,  and  he  got  his  great  sinecure  place, 
with  reversion  to  his  eldest  son,  while  "  imperious 
and  awful  necessity"  was  calling  upon  the  nation 
for  sacrifices.  GEORGE'S  doctrine  of  SALVAGE 
was  for  the  use  of  others,  and  not  at  all  for  his  own 
use ;  nor  did  this  doctrine  of  SALVAGE  apply  to 
the  Judges,  who,  we  have  seen,  received  an  addition 
to  their  pay  out  of  the  public  money,  during  the 
times  of  this  "  imperious  and  awful  necessity ;"  du- 
ring the  time  that  George  Rose  was  calling  upon  the 
people,  for  the  love  of  God,  not  to  spare  their  mo- 
ney. "  Oh  !"  said  George,  "  it  would  be  a  slander 
to  the  sense  and  virtue  of  the  people  to  suppose  an 
abatement  in  that  spirit  which  has  enabled  the 
Government  to  call  forth  those  resources"  And, 
at  this  very  time  he  was  receiving  upwards  of  £8,000 
a  year  out  of  the  taxes  raised  upon  that  same  peo- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  403 

pie,  and  Mr.  TIERNEY,  who  opposed  the  augmenta- 
tion to  the  pay  of  the  Judges,  was  told,  that  they 
ought  to  be  enabled  to  maintain  all  their  dignity  and 
state  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  live  and  keep  their  families, 
without  touching-  their  private  fortunes.  And  yet, 
Lord  King  is  to  be  lumped  with  Jews,  Pedlers,  and 
Smugglers  ;  he  is  to  have  a  hint  about  tossing  in 
blankets,  and  kicking  down  stairs ;  and,  what  is  still 
more  serious,  he  is  to  see  a  law  passed  avowedly  to 
counteract  his  measures  with  regard  to  the  manage- 
ment of  his  own  estate  ;  he  is  to  be  accused  of  mo- 
tives of  base  lucre;  he  is  to  be  held  forth  as  an  ene- 
my to  his  country  ;  and  all  this  because  he  wishes 
to  obtain  what  is  legally  and  equitably  his  due ;  what 
is  his  due  as  fairly  as  the  produce  of  their  fields  is 
the  due  of  his  tenants. 

I  have  now,  Gentlemen,  to  apologize  to  you  for 
having  taken  up  so  much  of  your  time  in  illustrating 
what  was  so  clear  itself.  The  additional  grants  to 
the  Civil  List,  and  the  augmentation  of  the  pay  of 
the  Judges,  did  not  properly  belong  to  our  subject ; 
but,  when  my  Lord  King  was  reviled,  and  when  a 
law  was  avowedly  levelled  at  him,  because  he 
sought,  in  1811,  to  protect  himself  and  family  against 
the  ruinous  effects  of  depreciation,  justice  demanded 
of  me,  if  I  wrote  at  all  upon  the  subject,  to  show 
what  has  been  done  in  behalf  of  the  King  and  the 
Judges  in  1799,  1802,  1804,  and  1809,  and  especially 
as  these  measures  in  behalf  of  the  King  and  the 
Judges  were  approved  of,  and  supported  by  some  of 
those  who  now  reprobate  the  conduct  of  Lord  King. 

In  my  next  Letter,  which  will  be  the  last  of  the 
series,  I  shall  have  to  offer  you  some  observations  of 
a  more  general  nature,  and  in  the  mean  while, 
I  remain,  Gentlemen, 

Your  Friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 

State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Friday,  July  26th,  1811. 


404  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLB* 

LETTER  XXIX. 


"  The  true  way  of  convincing  your  enemy,  that  his  war  upon  your  finance* 
will  he  useless,  is,  to  sta^e  explicitly  to  the  word,  that  you  are  not  at 
all  afraid  of  the  consequences  of  a  national  bankruptcy  :  lor,  while  you 
endeavour  to  make  people  believe,  that  su  :h  an  event  cannot  possibly 
happen,  they  will  certainly  think,  that,  you  regard  it,  if  it  should  happen,  a* 
irretrievable  ruin  and  destruction;  and,  therefore,  as  you  never  can 
quite  overcome  their  apprehensions,  the  best  way  is  to  be  silent  upon  the 
subject,  or  to  set  the  terrific  bugbear  at  defiance.  "—Political  Register. 
18th,  June,  1803. 


What  is  to  be  the  end  of  all  this? — Paper- Money  is  not  the 
cause  of  Sunshine  and  Showers — We  may  exist  without 
Paper-money—England  did  very  well  before  Paper-Money 
was  heard  of— What  is  to  become  of  the  Fund-holders? — 
The  Sale  of  the  Royal  Plate  and  of  the  Church  Property  in 
Austria — Let  what  will  happen  in  England,  the  Jacobins 
and  Levellers  will  not  merit  any  share  of  the  Blame— Con- 
clusion. 

GENTLEMEN, 

WHAT,  then,  is  to  be  the  end  of  all  this  ?  What 
are  to  be  the  ultimate  effects  produced  upon  the  na- 
tion by  this  depreciation  of  the  paper  money  ?— The 
PITTITE  party  tell  u&,  that  there  is  not  gold  to  be 
had ;  that  the  Bank  cannot  pay  in  gold  ;  and  that 
the  matter  must  be  left  to  better  times  and  to  better 
fortune.  The  other  party  tell  us,  that,  if  they  had 
the  power  of  adopting  what  measures  they  pleased, 
they  would  cause  the  Bank  to  pay  again  in  gold  ; 
that  they  would  restore  the  paper  to  its  former  esti- 
mation ;  and,  in  short,  retrieve  the  whole  system. 
I  have,  I  think,  shown  you  very  clearly,  that  to  cause 
the  Bank  to  pay  again  in  gold  is  impossible  ;  and 
that,  let  what  will  happen,  let  what  will  take  place 
as  to  commerce,  or  as  to  war,  the  Bank  Paper  will 
never  regain  any  part  of  what  it  has  lost,  as  long%as 
the  National  Debt  shall  exist ;  or,  rather,  as  Jong 
as  the  dividends  shall  be  paid  upon  the  interest  of 
that  debt. 

Now,  if  I  have  shown  this  to  your  satisfaction,  the 
question,  and  the  only  question,  that  remains  to  be 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  405 

discussed,  is,  what  would  be  the  CONSEQUENCES 
of  a  cessation  in  the  payment  of  the  dividends  ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  total  destruction  of  the  National  Debt ; 
the  total  breaking  up  of  the  Funds  and  the  Bank 
Note  System.  This  is  the  only  question  that  now 
remains  to  be  discussed ;  but  a  very  important  ques- 
tion it  is,  and  one  which,  I  hope,  will  receive  your 
patient  attention. 

To  hear  the  greater  part  of  people  talk  upon  this 
subject,  one  would  imagine,  that  the  bank  notes 
were  the  meat,  drink,  and  clothing  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  island ;  and,  indeed,  that  they  gave  us  sun- 
shine and  showers  and  every  thing  necessary  to  our 
existence.  One  would  really  suppose,  that  the  gene- 
ral creed  was,  that  the  Bank  Directors  were  the 
Gods  of  the  country,  that  they  were  our  Sustainers, 
if  not  actually  our  Makers,  that  from  them  we  de- 
rived the  breath  in  our  nostrils,  that  in  and  through 
them  we  lived,  moved,  and  had  our  being.  No  won- 
der, then,  that  there  should  be  an  apprehension  and 
even  a  horror  inspired  by  the  idea  of  a  total  destruc- 
tion of  the  paper  money  ;  no  wonder  that  when  I  be- 
gan, about  eight  years  and  a  half  ago,  to  write  against 
the  Funding  system,  I  should  have  been  regarded  as 
guilty  of  blasphemy,  and  should  have  been  accused 
thereof  by  that  devout  man,  Mr.  SHERIDAN  ;  no  won- 
der that  some  men's  knees  should  knock  together,  and 
their  teeth  chatter  in  their  head,  upon  being  told,  that 
the  day  is,  probably,  not  far  distant,  when  a  guinea, 
a  real  golden  guinea,  will  buy  a  hundred  pounds' 
worth  of  three  per  cents. 

But,  Gentlemen,  is  there  any  ground  for  these  ap- 
prehensions ?  Are  such  apprehensions  to  be  enter- 
tained by  rational  men  ?  No :  the  corn  and  the 
grass  and  the  trees  will  grow  without  paper-money  ; 
the  Banks  may  all  break  in  a  day,  and  the  sun  will 
rise  the  next  day,  and  the  lambs  will  gambol  and 
the  birds  will  sing,  and  the  carters  and  country  girls 
will  grin  at  each  other,  and  all  will  go  on  just  as  if 
nothing  had  happened. 


406  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

"  Yes,"  says  some  besotted  Pittite,  "  we  do  not 
suppose,  that  the  destruction  of  the  paper-system 
would  put  out  the  light  of  the  sun,  prevent  vegeta- 
tion, or  disable  men  and  women  to  propagate  their 
species :  we  are  not  fools  enough  to  suppose  that." 
Pray,  then,  what  are  you  fools  enough  to  suppose? 
What  are  you  fools  enough  to  be  afraid  of?  For, 
if  the  destruction  of  the  paper  produces,  and  is  cal- 
culated to  produce,  none  of  these  effects,  how  can  it 
be  a  thing  to  excite  any  very  general  apprehension. 
Who  would  it  hurl  ?  "  Oh  !  it  would  create  univer- 
sal uproar  and  confusion  :  it  would  destroy  all  pro- 
perty ;  it  would  introduce  anarchy  and  bloodshed, 
and  annihilate  regular  government,  social  order ^ 
and  our  holy  religion"  These  are  the  words  that 
JOHN  BOWLES,  the  Dutch  Commissioner,  used  to 
make  use  of.  This  is  the  declamatory  cant,  by  the 
means  of  which  the  people  of  this  country  have  been 
deceived  and  deluded  along  from  one  stage  of  ruin 
to  another,  till,  at  last,  they  have  arrived  at  what 
they  now  taste  of.  If,  when  JOHNNY  BOWLES,  or  any 
of  his  tribe,  had  been  writing  in  this  way,  a  plain 
tradesman,  who  gets  his  living  by  fair  dealing,  and 
who  has  no  desire  to  share  in  the  plunder  of  the 
public,  had  gone  to  the  writer,  and,  taking  him  fast 
by  the  button,  had  said  to  him  :  "  Come,  come  !  tell 
me,  in  definite  terms,  what  you  mean,  and  show  me 
how  I  should  be  a  loser  by  this  thing  that  you  ap- 
pear so  much  to  dread.  None  of  your  rani  ;  none 
of  your  horrifying  descriptions  ;  but  come,  JOHN,  tell 
me  HOW  I  should  be  made  worse  off  in  this  world, 
and  HOW  I  should  be  more  exposed  to  go  to  Hell, 
if  that  which  you  appear  to  dread  were  actually 
to  take  place ;"  if  any  such  man  had  so  addressed 
this  Treasury  scribe,  the  scribe  would  have  been  puz- 
zled much  more  than  he  was  by  his  per  cents,  about 
the  Dutch  Commission. 

Why,  Gentlemen,  should  the  total  destruction  of 
tke  paper-money  produce  any  of  these  effects  ?  Why 
should  it  destroy  all  property  /  why  produce  blood- 


P 
b; 

e; 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  407 

shed;  why  destroy  our  holy  religion?  I  have  be- 
fore told  you,  that  the  paper-money  was  unknown 
in  England,  till  within  about  107  years.  England 
did  very  well  before  that  time.  The  people  of  Eng- 
land were  brave  and  free,  happy  at  home  and  dreaded 
abroad,  long  before  paper-money  was  heard  of. — 
Why,  then,  should  they  now  believe,  that,  without 
iaper-money,  they  would  be  reduced  to  a  state  of 
larbarism  and  slavery  ?  The  Church,  as  is  now 
established,  existed  long  before  paper-money  was 
thought  of,  and  so  did  all  those  laws,  which  we  yet 
boast  of  as  the  great  bulwarks  of  our  freedom  ;  and, 
what  is  more,  I  defy  any  man  to  show  me  one  sin- 
gle law,  in  favour  of  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
which  has  been  passed  since  the  establishment  of 
the  Paper-Money  System,  while  numerous  laws 
have  been  passed  hostile  to  those  liberties.  Before 
the  existence  of  the  National  Debt  and  the  Bank, 
the  House  of  Commons  used  frequently  to  refuse  to 
grant  the  money  called  for  by  the  Crown ;  since 
they  have  existed,  no  grant  of  the  kind  has  ever  been 
refused  by  that  House.  Before  the  Paper  System 
existed,  there  was  no  standing  army  in  England. 
Before  the  Paper  System  existed,  there  were  not  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  paupers  in  England 
and  Wales :  there  are  now  twelve  hundred  thousand. 
Why,  then,  should  we  alarm  ourselves  at  what 
appears  to  indicate  the  approaching  destruction  of 
this  System  ?  "  Oh,  but,"  says  the  Minister,  (Perce- 
val,) "without  the  Paper  System  we  could  not  have 
had  the  victories  recently  won  in  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal ;"  to  which  he  might  have  added  the  achieve- 
ments at  Quiberon,  at  Dunkirk,  at  the  Helder,  at 
Ferrol,  at  Buenos  Ayres,  in  Hanover,  in  Leon  and 
Gallicia,  at  Corunna,  at  Watcher  en,  $c.  $c.  The 
list  might  be  swelled  out  to  three  times  this  length  ; 
but  this  is  long  enough.  If  what  the  Minister  calls 
the  "  recent  victories"  are  the  fruit  of  the  Paper 
System,  so  are  all  the  achievements  to  which  I  have 
here  called  your  recollection.  Indeed,  they  were 


408  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

so;  for,  the  wars  themselves  proceeded  from  the 
same  source.  The  American  War  grew  out  of  the 
Paper  System;  and  so  did  the  Anti-jacobin  war, 
which  began  in  1793,  and  which  has  finally  produced 
the  state  of  things  which  we  now  have  before  us. 
So  that,  as  to  the  use  of  the  Paper  System  in  this 
way,  there  can,  I  think,  be  very  little  doubt. 

"  Well,  but,  after  all,"  some  one  will  say,  "  what  is 
to  become  of  the  Fund-holder  ?  How  is  he  to  get  re- 
paid ?"  My  answer  to  this  is,  that  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  a  matter  in  which  the  people,  I  mean  the 
mass  of  the  nation^  have  much  to  do  or  to  say,  for, 
what  is  the  Fund-holder  or  Stock-holder  ?  Why, 
he  is  a  man,  who,  choosing  a  large  rather  than  a 
small  interest  for  his  money,  has  lent  it  to  some  per- 
sons in  power,  under  an  agreement,  that  he  shall  be 
paid  interest  upon  it  out  of  the  taxes  raised  upon  the 
people.  A  man  who  lends  money,  knows,  of  course, 
or,  at  least,  he  ought  to  know,  the  sufficiency  of  the 
borrower;  or,  if  he  does  not  know  that,  he,  of 
course,  takes  the  risk  into  his  calculation ;  and  he 
can  have  no  right  to  complain  if  the  chances  should 
happen  to  turn  up  against  him.  Upon  this  principle 
SIR  JOHN  MITFORD,  (now  Lord  Redesdale,)  went,  in 
defending  the  first  Bank  Restriction  Bill,  when,  in 
answer  to  those  who  contended,  that  it  would  be  a 
breach  of  faith  to  compel  the  Fund-holder  to  take 
payment  in  paper,  he  said,  that  the  Fund-holder, 
when  he  lent  his  money,  knew  that  a  case  like  this 
might  happen,  and  that,  therefore,  he  had  no  reason 
to  complain.  Till  I  read  this,  I  thought  that  I  was 
the  only  one  who  had  held  the  doctrine,  so  that  my 
satisfaction  at  seeing  my  opinions  corroborated  by 
such  high  legal  authority  was  somewhat  diminished 
by  the  reflection,  that  I  had  lost  what  I  had  deemed 
my  undivided  claim  to  originality. 

I  do  not,  however,  see  any  reason  why  the  Fund- 
holders,  or,  at  least,  that  part  of  them,  who  have 
been  compelled  to  suffer  their  property  to  be  thus 
vested,  should  not,  in  any  case,  have  a  just  compen- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  409 

sation.  And  how  ?  Whence  is  this  compensation 
to  come  ?  In  Austria,  our  old  and  faithful  and  au- 
gust ally,  the  Emperor,  is  acting  the  part  of  a  very 
honest  man.  The  paper-money  in  Austria  has  fallen 
to  a  fourteenth  part  of  its  nominal  value,  in  spite  of 
several  Edicts  prohibiting  the  passing  of  it  for 
less  than  its  nominal  value.  A  hundred  jlor  ins  in 
silver  were  worth  fourteen  hundred  andjijty-three 
florins  in  paper  when  the  last  advices  came  away ; 
and,  perhaps,  one  florin  in  silver,  is,  by  this  time, 
worth  Jlfty  florins  in  paper.  Of  course  the  Govern- 
ment creditors,  or  Austrian  Fund-holders,  must  be 
ruined,  unless  something  be  done  to  obtain  a  com- 
pensation for  them.  The  Emperor,  therefore,  like 
an  honest  man,  has,  as  the  newspapers  tell  us,  sent 
all  his  plate,  ail  his  gold  and  silver,  in  whatever 
shape,  to  the  mint  to  be  melted  down  and  turned 
into  coin  for  the  payment  of  the  people,  who  have 
lent  him  and  his  Government  their  money.  And, 
besides  this,  the  Clergy,  animated  by  a  zeal  for  their 
sovereign  truly  worthy  of  example,  have  given  up 
their  estafes  to  be  sola  for  the  sam,e  honest  purpose, 
which,  doubtless,  they  have  been  the  more  disposed 
to  do,  when  they  reflected,  that  the  debts  of  the  Go- 
vernment were  incurred  in  carrying  on  a  war  for 
"regular  government,  social  order,  and  their  holy 
religion,"  and  in  the  producing  and  prolonging  of 
which  war,  they  themselves  had  so  great  a  hand,  as 
well  as  in  persecuting  all  those  who  were  opposed 
to  the  system.  Accordingly,  we  see  accounts  in  the 
public  prints  of  the  SALES  OF  CHURCH  LANDS 
going  on  in  Austria.  They  are  said  to  sell  remark- 
ably well  ;*  and,  it  is  stated,  that  these  sales,  toge- 

*  VIENNA,  JULY  6.— "A  second  sale  of  ecclesiastical  estates 
will  soon  take  place.  On  the  23d  will  be  sold,  the  estate  of 
Keixeridorf;  antlon  the  24th,  those  of  St.  George  and  Baum- 
garten.  As  there  are  many  competitors,  the  sums  produced 
by  these  sales  have  greatly  surpassed  what  the  lands  were  es- 
timated at.  The  body  of  merchants  in  this  city  published, 
some  days  since,  a  memoir  in  their  defence  against  the  char- 
gesobjected  to  them,  of  having  contributed  to  the  deprecia- 
35 


410  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

ther  with  the  meltings  of  the  Royal  Plate,  will  yield 
enough  to  satisfy  all  the  Government  Creditors  ;  or, 
at  least,  to  afford  them  the  means  of  living  beyond 
the  reach  of  misery. 

But,  methinks,  I  see  start  forth  a  Courtier  on  one 
side  of  me  and  a  Parson  on  the  other,  and,  with 
claws  distended  ready  to  lay  hold  of  my  cheek,  ex- 
claim :  u  What,  cold-blooded  wretch  !  are  these, 
then,  your  means  of  compensation  for  the  English 
Fund- holder  ?"  Softly  !  Softly  !  Give  me  time  to 
speak.  Do  not  tear  my  eyes  out  before  you  hear 
what  I  have  to  say.  Stop  a  little,  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  mean. 

Now,  why  should  you  be  in  such  a  rage  with  me  ? 
If  I  were  to  propose  that  the  same  should  be  done 
here  as  is  now  doing  in  Austria,  what  would  there 
be,  in  my  proposition,  injurious  to  either  the  station 
or  character  of  the  King  or  the  Clergy  ?  Am  I  to 
suppose,  that  the  Crown  depends  upon  the  possession 
of  a  parcel  of  plate  by  the  King  and  the  Royal  Fa- 
mily ;  that  a  throne,  the  seat  of  kingly  power,  is  sup- 
ported by  a  wagon  load,  perhaps,  of  gold  and  silver 
dishes  and  plates  and  spoons  and  knives  and  forks 
and  salvers  and  candlesticks  and  sauce  boats  and 
tea  pots  and  cream-jugs  ?  Good  Heavens  !  What 
a  vile  opinion  must  they  have  of  the  throne,  who 
look  upon  such  things  as  tending  to  its  support ! 
And  then,  as  to  the  Church,  what  could  her  sons 
wish  for  more  earnestly  than  an  opportunity  of  giving 
us  a  proof  of  their  disregard  of  things  temporal  ?  Be- 
sides, there  would  be,  in  this  case,  a  striking  proof 
of  the  truth  of  the  good  maxim,  that  "  Justice,  though 
slow,  is  sure  ;"  for,  it  is  well  known,  that  the  Paper 
System,  which  would  thus  draw  upon  the  Church, 
was  the  invention  of  A  BISHOP  of  that  same 
Church  ! 

But,  the  Courtiers  and  the  Clergy  may  be  Iran- 

tion  of  the  paper-money.  The  memoir  has  been  transmitted 
to  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  presented  to  his  Majesty  the 
Emperor." 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD.  411 

quil ;  for  I  do  not  think  it  at  all  likely  that  such  mea- 
sures will  become  necessary  in  England,  though 
they  have  been  adopted  at  Vienna,  and,  as  would 
seem,  with  singular  success.  I  am  of  opinion,  that 
there  would  be  found  ample  means,  elsewhere,  for 
a  due  compensation  to  those  Fundholders,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  vest  their  property  in  that  way. 
In  short,  I  am  quite  satisfied,  that  we  have  nothing 
at  all  to  fear  from  the  destruction  of  the  paper  sys- 
tem if  that  should  take  place  ;  and,  as  the  friends  of 
the  system  assert,  that  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
its  continuing  to  exist,  we  are,  I  think,  tolerably 
safe.  The  RUIN  of  America  and  France  was 
foretold,  because  their  paper-money  was  falling  ;  but, 
the  prophecy  proved  false.  They  were  both  victo- 
rious, both  became  prosperous ;  and,  what  is  odd 
enough,  both  have  since  become  receptacles  of  the 
coin  that  is  gone  from  England ;  aye,  from  that 
country  which  hoped  to  triumph  over  them  by  the 
means  of  that  same  coin !  How  many  times  did 
PITT  predict  the  time  when  France  would  be  what 
he  called  exhausted,  and  how  was  he  hallooed  on  by 
his  numerous  understrappers  of  all  sorts,  verbally  as 
well  as  in  print !  Has  she  been  ruined  ?  Has  she 
lost  in  population  or  in  power  ?  Is  she  exhausted  ? 
Has  she  become  feeble  ?  We  are  still  struggling 
with  her;  and  do  we  find  her  grow  weaker  and 
weaker  ? 

Well,  this  doctrine  of  RUIN  from  a  depreciated  pa- 
per-money is  a  false  doctrine.  It  was  engendered  in 
a  shallow  brain,  and  brought  forth  by  arrogant  empti- 
ness. But,  suppose  it  to  be  sound  as  applied  to  us ; 
suppose,  for  argument's  sake,  that  the  destruction  of 
the  paper-system  should  take  place,  and  should  prove 
the  utter  ruin  of  the  country ;  or,  suppose,  at  any 
rate,  that  it  should  send  all  the  Fundholders  into 
beggary,  should  cause  all  the  Church  and  Collegiate 
property  to  be  sold,  as  in  Austria,  should  send  the 
Royal  Plate  to  the  Mint,  should  annihilate  all  the 
remaining  rights  and  tenures ;  and,  in  short,  should 


412  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

produce  a  species  of  revolution.  I  say,  that  it  need  do 
none  of  this :  I  say,  that  not  one  of  these  is  a  ne- 
cessary consequence  of  the  overthrow  of  the  pa- 
per system ;  but,  for  argument's  sake,  suppose  the 
contrary,  and  suppose  that  such  overthrow  were 
to  take  place  ;  WHO,  in  that  case,  would  be  to 
blame  ? 

This  is  a  question  that  every  man  ought,  as  soon 
as  may  be,  to  answer  in  his  own  mind ;  for,  if  any 
of  these  consequences  were  to  come  upon  us,  it 
would  be  of  the  greatest  utility  to  be  able  to  say,  at 
once,  who  it  was  that  had  been  the  real  authors  of 
the  calamity.  Certainly,  then,  the  Reformers,  com- 
monly called  Jacobins  and  Levellers,  have  had  no- 
thing to  do  with  the  matter.  They  have  had  no 
power.  They  have  been  carefully  shut  out  from  all 
authority.  They  have  filled  no  offices  of  any  sort. 
They  have  been  held  forth  as  a  sort  of  enemy  in  the 
bosom  of  the  country.  There  is  no  creature  who 
has  had  power,  of  any  sort,  no  matter  what,  who  has 
not  employed  that  power  upon  them.  They  have 
been  either  killed,  banished,  ruined,  or,  at  the  least, 
beaten  down,  and  kept  down.  Well,  then,  they  will 
not  come  in  for  any  of  the  blame,  if  things  should 
turn  out  wrong  at  last.  They  have  had  no  hand  in 
declaring  war  against  the  regicides  of  France ;  they 
have  had  no  hand  in  forming  leagues,  in  voting  sub- 
sidies, in  sending  out  expeditions  ;  they  have  had  no 
hand  in  making  loans  or  grants  ;  and,  therefoie,  they 
will,  surely,  not  come  in  for  any  share  of  the  blame 
which  shall  attach  to  the  consequences.  They  have 
been  represented  as  an  ignorant  and  factious  herd, 
"  a  low,  degraded  crew  ;"  while  those  who  have 
thus  described  them  have  had  all  the  powers  and  the 
resources  of  the  country  at  their  command ;  and. 
therefore,  let  what  will  happen,  the  Reformers  will 
have  to  bear  no  portion  of  the  blame.  The  full- 
blooded  Anti-Jacobins  ;  the  members  of  the  Pitt 
Club ;  ail  the  numerous  herd  of  the  enemies  to  Re- 
form, may  be  fairly  called  upon  for  a  share  of  respon- 


PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD,  413 

sibility ;  but,  to  the  Reformers  who  had  no  power, 
and  who  have  been  hardly  able  to  exist  in  peace,  no 
man  can  reasonably  look. 

I  shall  now.  Gentlemen,  after  nearly  a  twelve- 
month's correspondence,  take  my  leave  of  you,  and 
with  the  conviction,  that  I  have  done  much  towards 
giving  you  a  clear  view  of  the  subject  of  which  I 
have  been  treating.  I  had  long  entertained  the 
design  to  make  the  subject  familiar  ;  to  put  my 
countrymen  in  general  beyond  the  reach  of  decep- 
tion on  this  score  ;  to  enable  them  to  avoid  being 
cheated,  if  they  chose  to  avoid  it ;  and  a  suffi- 
ciency of  time  for  the  purpose  being  furnished  me, 
it  would  have  been  greatly  blameable  in  me,  if  I 
had  neglected  to  avail  myself  of  it :  I  have  not 
been  guilty  of  this  neglect ;  I  have,  with  great  care 
and  research,  brought  together  what  appears  to  me 
to  be  the  whole,  or  very  nearly  the  whole,  of  the 
useful  information  relating  to  the  paper  system  ; 
I  have  laboured  most  zealously  and  anxiously  for 
the  accomplishment  of  the  great  object  in  view  ; 
and  it  more  than  repays  me  for  every  thing  to 
hear,  to  see,  to  know,  that  /  have  not  laboured  in 
vain. 

In  the  course  of  this  work,  I  have  clearly  ex- 
pressed my  opinions  as  to  the  final  fatal  effect  of 
the  paper-money  :  those  opinions  are  in  direct  op- 
position to  those  of  the  Ministers  and  the  Parlia- 
ment. TIME,  the  trier  of  all  things,  must  now 
decide  between  us  ;  and,  if  I  be  wrong,  I  have,  at 
least,  taken  effectual  means  to  make  my  error  as 
conspicuous  and  as  notorious  as  possible  ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  I  be  right,  I  have  laid  the 
sure  foundation  of  complete  triumph  over  my  haugh- 
ty, supercilious,  unjust,  and  insolent  foes.  One 
tning,  above  all  others,  however,  I  am  desirous  of 
leaving  strongly  impressed  upon  your  minds,  and 
that  is,  that  it  is  my  decided  opinion,  that,  let  what 
will  be  the  fate  of  the  paper-money,  that  fate,  how- 
ever destructive,  does  not  necessarily  include  any, 
35* 


414  PAPER  AGAINST  GOLD. 

even  the  smallest,  danger  to  the  independence  of 
England,  or  to  the  safety  of  the  throne,  or  to  the 
liberties  or  the  happiness  of  the  people. 
I  remain,  Gentlemen, 

Your  friend, 

and  obedient  Servant, 

WM.  COBBETT. 
State  Prison,  Newgate, 

Friday^  August  2d,  1810. 


TO  THE 

LABOURERS   OF  ENGLAND, 

On  the  projects  for  getting  them  out  of  their  native 
country. 

Kensington,  25th  June,  1831. 
MY  FRIENDS, 

THE  London  newspapers  tell  us,  that  the  news- 
papers in  the  country  are  full  of  "  forebodings  as  to 
the  designs  of  the  labourers  ;"  and  the  "  Morning 
Chronicle"  of  the  25th  June,  having  told  us  this, 
adds  these  words,  "  There  is  an  article  in  the  Kent 
Herald,  of  Thursday,  which  is  worthy  of  particular 
attention.  Dearly,  do  we  fear,  will  England  yet  rue 
the  having,  of  late  years,  legislated  only  for  the  high- 
er classes,  and  abandoned  the  lower  to  every  descrip- 
tion of  tyranny."  This  Morning  Chronicle  is  a 
paper  on  the  sid>e  of  the  ministers,  and,  therefore,  it 
says  what  k  pleases :  if  I,  who  am  on  the  side  of  no 
men  in  power,  were  to  write  this,  I  should  be  prose- 
cuted for  it.  However,  why  does  not  this  paper  give 
us  this  famous  article  from  the  Kent  Herald  ;  and 
why  does  it  not  give  us  some  of  those  dismal  fore- 
bodings of  the  country  newspapers  with  regard  to 
your  designs?  I,  however,  want  no  information 
upon  the  subject,  for  I  know  your  designs,  and  I  high- 
ly approve  of  them ;  namely,  first,  to  secure  for 
yourselves,  in  return  for  your  labour,  a  belly-full  of 
meat  and  bread;  and,  next,  to  obtain  some  good 
wholesome  beer,  to  wash  them  down  ;  and  also  to 
obtain  good  and  decent  clothes,  and  clean  bedding, 
such  as  your  grandfathers  had.  These  are  your  de- 
signs, and  God  send  that  they  may  be  accomplished, 
instead  of  being  a  subject  of  "  ominous  forebodings." 
But  now,  upon  these  projects  for  getting  a  part  of 
you  out  of  the  country.  Those  that  are  for  these  pro- 


416  TO  THE  LABOUHER3  OF 

jects  say,  that  you  are  too  numerous  ;  that  you  breed 
too  fast ;  and  that  there  is  not  work  enough  for  you ; 
and  they  say  this  at  the  yery  moment  when  the  farm- 
ers, all  over  the  country,  are  complaining  that  they 
shall  not  be  able  to  get  in  the  harvest  without  the 
assistance  of  Irish  labourers !  I  have  often  proved 
that  there  is  plenty  of  employment  for  you ;  that  the 
farmers  wish  to  give  you  that  employment,  but  that 
they  have  not  the  money  to  give  you ;  and  this  has 
also  been  stated  recently  by  Lord  STANHOPE  before  a 
committee  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  cause  of  the 
farmers  not  having  money  enough  to  give  you  is,  that 
they  are  compelled  to  pay  tithes  and  taxes  to  an 
enormous  extent ;  and  you  want  higher  wages  than 
you  otherwise  would  want,  because  you  pay  taxes  on 
your  malt,  hops,  sugar,  soap,  candles,  tobacco,  and, 
in  short,  on  every  thing  that  you  consume  ;  while  the 
numerous  enclosure-bills  have  taken  from  almost  the 
whole  of  you  the  means  of  keeping  cow,  or  pig,  or 
goose. 

I  have  frequently  told  you,  that  there  is  a  man  of  the 
name  of  MALTHTS,  who  "is  a  church  parson,  who  was 
the  great  inventor  of  the  doctrine,  that  it  is  your 
breeding  so  fast  that  is  the  cause  of  your  misery. 
This  man  has  long  been  a  great  favourite  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  law-makers  and  ministers,  and  it 
has  recently  come  to  light,  that  he  has  been,  and  is  in 
the  pay  of  the  government,  and  that  he  has  been  re- 
ceiving, and  is  receiving,  a  hundred  pounds  a  year 
for  his  literary  services.  That  which  he  has'  re- 
ceived would  have  wholly  maintained  nine  or  ten 
labourers5  families.  Such  transactions  as  this  form 
part  of  the  cause  of  your  misery ;  but,  though  this  is 
as  clear  as  day -light  to  me  and  to  every  man  of  sense 
in  the  kingdom,  still  the  schemers  are  at  work  to  get 
some  of  you  away;  to  get  some  of  you  out  of  that 
country  in  which  you  were  born,  while  they  suffer 
swarms  of  Italians.  Jews,  and  Germans,  hurdy-gur- 
dy grinders,  broom-sellers,  and  Scotch  pedlers.  to 
swarm  over  the  land,  like  lice  upon  the  body  of  a  dis- 


TO  THE  ULBOUAER3  OF  E*GLA*D.  417 


eased  animal.  They  suffer  all  these  to  remain  and 
wander  whither  they  like,  and  are  busy  about  no- 
thing but  getting  out  of  the  country  those  who  till  ike 
land  and  make  die  clothe?  and  the  houses.  Swarms 
of  pensioners  and  sinecure-holders,  paid  out  of  the 
taxes ;  swaiias  of  retired  clerks,  and  military  officers, 
and  doctors ;  s»aims  of  idlers,  of  all  descriptions, 
they  suffer  to  remain,  and  wish  to  get  rid  only  of 
those  who  do  the  work,  and  who,  if  necessary,  are 
able  to  defend  the  country.  In  a  farmer  number  I 
endeavoured  to  amuse  TOO. 'under  the  form  of  a  farce, 
with  an  exhibition  of  the  folly  of  these  people.  Upon 
the  publication  of  that  farce,  a  man  calling  himself 
EDWABD  LCDU>W,  who  is  a  partisan  of  these  getters- 
rid  of  the  people,  wrote  me  a  very  abusive  letter,  at 
the  close  of  which  he  put  to  me  five  questions  rela- 
tive to  population.  I  answered  these  questions, 
which  contained  the  doctrine  of  the  whole  crew ; 
and  those  questions,  together  with  my  answer,  I  will 
new  lay  before  you.  I  pray  you  to  read  the  whole 
with  great  attention,  and  to  hand  it  about  from  one 
to  the  other;  and  when  you  hare  read  this,  I  shaU 
have  other,  and,  to  you,  still  more  important  matter 
to  lay  before  you. 

*  LCDLOW'S  QJ7E3TKMH." 

"  1.  Stock  a  farm  of  1000  acres,  of  the  richest  pas- 
ture land,  with  one  breeding  pair  of  the  ox,  horse, 
and  sheep  tribes  of  animals ;  leave  them  to  multiply, 
in  obedience  to  the  unrestrained  instincts  of  nature, 
and  will  they  not  multiply  until  the  said  pasture  is 
usable  to  maintain  the  augmented  numbers  otherwise 
than  in  a  state  of  the  most  severe  privation  under 
which  animal  life  can  possibly  exist? 

**  2.  Would  not  the  same  result  inevitable  occur  if 
the  whole  island  of  Great  Britain  were  of  the  richest 
posture,  and  similarly  stocked? 

"3.  To  keep  down  the  mouths  on  his  pasture  to  a 
level  with  its  capacity  to  feed  them,  does  not  the  gra- 


418  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OP  ENGLAND. 

slaughtering  the  animals  of  all  ages,  removing  them 
away  from  his  land,  incapacitating  them  from  breed- 
ing, by  separating  the  sexes,  and  by  other  means  ? 
And  if  he  were  not  so  to  do,  would  not  his  farm  in- 
evitably in  time  be  overstocked  ? 

"  4.  Is  not  the  multiplication  of  all  classes  of  ani- 
mal nature,  biped  and  quadruped,  or  man  and  beast, 
governed  by  the  very  same  laws  or  principles  ? 

"  5.  If  the  aforesaid  violent  means  of  physical  pre- 
vention, applied,  as  aforesaid,  to  the  multiplication  of 
four-legged  creatures,  cannot  be  applied  to  that  of 
two-legged  creatures,  will  not  the  latter  inevitably 
overstock  the  country,  unless  their  excessive  multi- 
plication be  prevented  by  some  moral  restraint 
thereon  ? 

"  When  you  show  that  you  clearly  understand  the 
preceding  very  simple  questions,  and  the  proper  an- 
swers to  them,  I  may  probably  propound  some  others 
which  may  lead  to  the  elements  of  the  momentous, 
complex,  and  beautiful  science,  that  treats  of  the 
multiplication  of  the  human  species,  viewed  with 
reference  to  its  highest  attainable  state  of  well-being. 

"  You  are  at  liberty  to  publish  this  letter,  but  / 
guess  you  will  take  good  care  to  do  no  such  thing. 
'EDWARD  LUDLOW." 

"  COBBETT*S  ANSWER." 

Now,  nasty  feelosofer,  I  answer  the  four  Jirst 
questions  with  a  YES  ;  but  the  fifth  I  answer  with 
a  NO.  Here  we  have,  then,  the  grand  argument 
of  the  shallow  and  nasty  beasts  !  Here  we  have  the 
basis  of  their  "momentous,  complex,  and  beautiful 
science."  The  nasty  creatures  know,  that  nobody 
can  deny  the  truth  of  their  observations,  as  they  ap- 
ply to  stock,  kept  upon  a  farm  ;  and  not  being  able 
to  discriminate  between  that  case  and  the  case  of 
a  nation,  they  think  that  their  conclusion  is  unan- 
swerable, and  they  rush  on  to  it  with  all  the  eager- 
ness and  glee  of  a  conceited  fool  who  imagines  that 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OE  ENGLAND.        419 

he  has  discovered  some  hitherto-hidden  idea  that  he 
is  bringing  forth. 

If  the  mind  of  this  fellow  were  not  as  stupid  as  it 
is  nasty,  he  would  have  perceived  that  there  is  no 
analogy  in  the  two  cases ;  that  a  nation,  or  people, 
have  to  provide  for  their  own  wants,  have  to  create 
by  their  own  skill,  care,  and  toil,  that  which  they  eat, 
drink,  wear,  and  are  warmed  and  lodged  with  ;  where- 
as the  stock  upon  a  farm  have  their  wants  provided 
for  by  others;  they  create  nothing-;  they  use  no 
skill,  no  care  ;  they  labour  not  at  all ;  but  have  every 
thing  provided  for  them  by  the  skill  and  labour  of 
man,  and  the  labour  of  those  other  animals  that  man 
calls  in  to  his  assistance. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  this  nasty-minded  fel- 
low, resting  upon  the  propensities  and  tendencies  of 
nature,  flies  off,  at  once,  for  an  illustration,  into  a 
state  wholly  artificial,  and  talks  of  the  multiplica- 
tion of  animals  in  this  state,  instead  of  animals  in  a 
state  of  nature,  where  they  have  to  provide  for  their 
own  wants,  and  to  seek  for  the  means  of  their  own 
defence  and  preservation.  What !  nasty,  impudent, 
and  stupid  beast,  you  want  to  show  us  how  fast  ani- 
mals would  increase,  if  left  to  the  "  unrestrained  in- 
stincts of  nature,"  and  as  a  proof  of  it,  you  cite 
what  would  be  the  increase  of  a  flock,  guarded  during 
the  day  by  the  shepherd  and  his  dog,  folded  at  night, 
and  pampered  upon  grass,  clover,  and  turnips,  cre- 
ated for  them  and  almost  put  into  their  mouths,  by 
the  labour  of  men  and  horses !  You  are  a  pretty 
beast  to  reason  upon  analogy  !  you  are  a  pretty  beast 
to  show  us  what  would  be  the  effect  of  leaving  ani- 
mals to  the  "  unrestrained  instincts  of  nature  !" 

To  make  your  argument  of  analogy  worth  a  straw, 
you  ought  to  have  gone  for  an  illustration,  not  to 
flocks  and  herds,  tended  and  fed  and  nursed  and  phy- 
sicked by  the  hand  of  man,  but  to  those  untamed 
animals  which  acknowledge  no  owner,  and  which 
provide  for  their  own  wants  and  their  own  protection. 
Of  these  the  sparrow,  the  rook,  the  rabbit,  the  hare, 


420  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  pheasant,  the  wood-pigeon,  the  partridge,  and 
some  others,  are,  in  part,  provided  for  by  man  ;  yet  it 
is  not  without  great  difficulty  that  some  of  them  can 
be  made  to  increase.  But  the  foxes,  the  badgers,  the 
otters,  the  weazels,  the  stoats,  the  pole-cats ;  why  do 
they  not  overrun  the  country  ?  They  are  killed  by 
man  and  other  animals ;  aye,  now  and  then  one,  but 
not  in  so  great  a  proportion  as  men  are  killed  in  va- 
rious strifes,  and  by  accidents  arising  out  of  their  state 
in  civil  society.  And  why  do  not  these  animals 
(all  great  breeders)  cover  the  land  then?  They  are 
left  to  the  "  unrestrained  instincts  of  nature ;"  aye, 
but  they  are  also  left  to  get  their  own  living ;  to 
work  for  what  they  eat.  Mice  and  rats,  indeed,  ab- 
solutely demand  cats  and  traps  to  "  check  the  popu- 
lation" of  them ;  and,  why  ?  because  the  food  on 
which  they  live  is  provided  for  them  by  the  hand  of 
man.  Take  that  artificial  provision  away,  and  there 
will  be  no  need  of  cats  and  traps  to  keep  them  down. 
And  magpies,  now,  why  do  not  they  fill  the  woods 
and  devour  us  ?  Who  ever  kills  a  magpie  ?  The 
most  artful  of  birds,  the  most  vigilant,  so  nearly  a 
match  for  the  hawk,  that  the  latter  never  attacks 
him.  Seldom  is  his  nest  molested ;  and  yet  this  is 
rather  a  rare  bird.  And  why  ?  Because  he  is  compell- 
ed to  pass  his  time  in  watchings  and  in  labour.  Feed 
the  magpies,  and  take  care  of  them,  and  they  will  be 
as  plentiful  and  as  insolent  as  pensioners,  and  you 
must  soon  begin  to  eat  them,  (sweet  morsels  !)  or  to 
kill  them  at  least,  or  they  \\ill  fill  the  air  with  their 
chattering.  I  found,  at  Barn-Elm,  a  dove-house  with 
about  fifty  pair  of  pigeons.  I  let  them  get  their  own 
living :  in  the  three  years  they  did  not  give  \isfifty 
young  ones,  and  their  population  fell  ofl',  at  last,  to 
about  fifteen  pair.  I  had  a  little  pigeon-house  at 
Kensington,  set  out  with  four  pair,  that  soon  began 
to  take  enough  young  ones  for  a  pigeon-pie  once  a 
week  ;  and  yet,  in  about  two  years,  they  increased 
to  such  numbers,  that  I  was  compelled  to  slaughter 
the  whole  by  shooting,  and  to  begin  again.  But 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OP  ENGLAND.  421 


here  they  were  fed  three  times  a  day  abundantly, 
and  whenever  they  went  from  home  it  was  tor  di- 
version, and  not  to  seek  food.  Here  was  u  surplus 
population;"  and  here  was  the  cause.  These  lazy 
devils  at  Kensington  got  all  the  food  and  none  of 
the  work ;  and  therefore  I  was  compelled  to  "  check 
their  population,"  and  finally  to  destroy  them. 

The  hiackbirds  and  thrushes  sometimes  rob  a  man 
a  little,  but  the  torn-tits,  goldfinches,  nightingales, 
swallows,  martens,  hedge-sparrows,  and  peckers,  and 
numerous  other  birds,  live  wholly  on  worms  and  buds 
and  insects  and  seeds  of  weeds.  There  is  never  any 
overstock  of  them,  though  nobody  kills  them  ;  but 
there  would  be  an  overstock  of  all  of  them,  if  man 
were  to  feed  them,  and  to  provide  them  with  nests 
and  protection,  and  were  never  to  destroy  any  of 
them.  My  little  farm-yard  at  Kensington,  contains, 
at  present,  two  cows,  a  bull  calf,  two  old  sows,  five 
male  pigs,  and  seven  females,  all  these  about  three 
months  old,  two  cocks,  ten  hens,  and  about  seven- 
teen pigeons.  Here,  if  I  were  to  let  them  all  remain 
in  their  natural  state,  to  pursue  the  "unrestrained 
instincts  of  nature,"  and  to  go  on  calving,  pigging, 
and  hatching,  there  would  be  a  goodly  assemblage 
in  a  short  time:  there  would  be  a  "surplus  popula- 
tion" indeed  !  But,  then,  1  must  continue  to  feed 
them  all:  I  must  continue  to  draw  from  my  garden 
subsistence  for  them,/rom  the  fruit  of  my  care  and 
the  labour  of  my  men  in  the  raising  of  the  cabbages, 
turnips,  mangel-wurzel,  and  corn,  on  which  they  all 
live.  Upon  this,  and  this  alone,  I  ground  my  right 
to  "  check  their  population,"  by  killing  the  calf  as 
soon  as  he  is  fit,  by  taking  the  milk  from  the  cows, 
by  altering,  (as  the  Yankees  call  it,)  and,  afterwards, 
killing  the  pigs,  by  taking  the  eggs  from  the. hens, 
and  by  taking  the  young  pigeons  from  their  nests  and 
putting  them  into  pies.  If  I  were  to  leave  them  to 
provide  for  themselves,  their  population  would  need 
no  checking  ;  and  if  they  were  to  be  so  situated  as 
to  be  able  to  get  their  own  living,  they  would  hardly 
36 


422  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

breed  too  much,  because  their  numbers  could  increase 
only  in  proportion  to  the  subsistence  that  they  obtain- 
ed, and  that,  too,  without  injury  to  others  ;  for,  if  they 
committed  such  injury,  they  would  be  destroyed  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  that  injury  ;  and  this  de- 
stroying would  keep  their  numbers  within  due 
bounds. 

It  is  exactly  the  same  with  human  beings,  who,  if 
they  labour,  never  CAN  breed  too  fast,  because  they 
create  food  and  clothing  and  other  necessaries  in 
proportion  to  their  numbers,  and  because,  indeed, 
the  subsistence  must  precede  the  population.  But  if 
there  be  a  government  to  step  in,  and  wrest  the  sub- 
sistence from  those  by  whose  labour  it  is  created, 
and  hand  it  over  to  others  who,  like  my  farm-stock, 
create  nothing,  then  the  poor  souls  that  do  the  work 
must  suffer  from  want.  This  is  the  situation  of 
England  at  this  moment ;  and  here  is  the  real  foun- 
dation and  motive  of  all  that  we  hear  about  "  surplus 
population."  Those  who  labour,  those  who  create 
all  the  food  and  all  the  raiment,  seem,  at  last,  resolved 
not  to  live  any  longer  in  a  state  of  half  starvation ; 
and,  therefore,  those  who  live  in  idleness  on  the  fruit 
of  their  labour,  are  using  all  sorts  of  endeavours  to 
make  us  believe  that  the  working  people  are  too  nu- 
merous, and  these  devourers  are  worrying  the  Go- 
vernment to  death  to  adopt  some  scheme  for  thinning 
their  numbers,  not  caring  a  straw  about  what  the 
country  must  thereby  lose  in  point  of  resources  and 
strength.  These  idlers  are,  in  one  respect,  not  like 
my  farm-stock,  for  they  yield  nothing-  in  return  for 
what  they  devour.  They  are  like  the  nags  and  plea- 
sure fillies,  who,  finding  the  clover  run  short,  pe- 
titioned the  master  to  sell  off,  or  kill,  some  of  the 
cart-horses,  of  whom  they  alleged  that  the  population 
was  "  surplus."  "  Oh,  no !"  said  the  master,  "  if 
there  be  not  enough  for  all,  I  must  get  rid  of  some  of 
you ;  for  you  create  nothing,  and  without  the  cart- 
horses, we  shall  all  be  starved  together." 

There  may,  indeed,  be  a  real  "  surplus  popula- 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OP  ENGLAND.  423 

tion"  of  idlers  ;  and  this  is  the  case  in  England  now , 
a  real  surplus  of  nags  and  fillies ;  these  are  crying 
out  for  a  diminution  of  the  number  of  the  cart-horses, 
and,  contrariwise  to  the  farmer,  our  Government  is 
listening  to  the  clamour  of  these  luxurious  idlers,  and 
seems  to  be  as  busy  as  bees  in  contriving  schemes 
for  checking  the  breeding  and  getting  rid  of  those 
who  do  all  the  work  and  create  all  the  resources  of 
the  country,  while,  at  the  same  time,  that  same  Go- 
vernment does  not  one  single  thing  to  check  the 
breeding,  or  to  get  rid,  of  those  who  live  in  idleness 
out  of  the  fruit  of  the  working  people's  labour,  and 
who  are  mere  consumers  and  wasters  of  the  nation's 
resources. 

Let  us  try  this  a  little,  as  the  Yankees  say  ;  let  us 
resort  to  an  illustration,  and  see  if  we  cannot  find  a 
better  one  than  that  of  this  nasty  feelosofer,  "  EDWARD 
LUDLOW,"  who,  by-the-by,  does  not  tell  us  where  he 
is  to  be  seen  or  heard  of.  If  "EDWARD"  should 
happen  to  know  JOHN  CAM  "  HOBHOUSE,  ESQ.,"  who 
is  a  member  under  SIR  GLORY,*  for  the  city  of  West- 
minster, and  who,  along  with  his  master,  was  so  pelted 
with  cabbages  and  turnips,  at  the  election  in  Covent 
Garden,  last  summer; if  "EDWARD" should  happen  to 
know  "John  Cam,  Esquire"  that  will  be  just  the  thing; 
for  then  he  will  have  the  illustration. complete.  John 
Cam  married  a  JULIANA  HAY,  who  was  a  pensioner 
from  her  infancy.  There  were  two  broods  of  these 
Hays  standing  on  the  pension  list ;  but  one  will  be 
enough  for  our  purpose. 

"  Grant,  dated  1807,  to  James  Earl  of  Lauderdale 
and  others,  in  trust  for 

Mary  Turner  Hay,  per  year,    -        -     100/. 
Dorothy  Frances  Hay,     ...        -     100 
Hannah  Charlotte  Hay,  -        -        -     100 
Elizabeth  Hay,  -     100 

James  Hay, 100 

Juliana  Hay, 100" 

*  Sir  Francis  Burdett. 


424  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

Now  it  is  very  clear  that  u  EDWARD  LUDLOW'S" 
doctrine  would  apply  here ;  for  here  the  parties 
create  nothing.  I  will  not  compare  such  delicate 
ladies  to  "  stock  upon  a  farm, ;"  but  "  like  the  lilies 
of  the  field,  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin." 
They  do  no  work,  they  create  nothing  useful,  they 
make  come  neither  food  nor  raiment  nor  fuel  nor 
bedding  nor  houses ;  therefore,  they  may  easily  be 
too  numerous  ;  because  they  do  not,  like  the  working 
classes,  create  subsistence  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers  ;  they  draw  their  subsistence,  or,  rather,  the 
exciseman  draws  it  for  them,  out  of  the  fruit  of 
the  labour  of  others,  just  as  the  farmer  brings  the 
food  to  his  pigs  out  of  the  fields  which  have  been 
ploughed  and  sowed  by  him  and  the  horses.  Such 
people,  therefore,  if  left  to  follow  the  "  unrestrained 
instincts  of  nature,"  and  if  fed  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  must  soon  actually  cover  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  devour  up  every  thing  upon  it. 

But  suppose  that  LADY  JULIANA  had  not  had  the 
exciseman  to  draw  subsistence  for  her  from  the  fruit 
of  the  labour  of  the  Scotch  people,  (it  is  a  Scotch  af- 
fair,) how  would  the  case  have  stood  then?  She 
must  have  worked  for  what  she  ate  and  wore  ;  she 
might  at  this  moment  have  been  weeding  in  the  corn, 
and  by-and-by  hay-making,  reaping,  and  then  hop- 
picking,  and  in  the  winter,  spinning  and  knitting. 
In  that  case,  she  would  have  created  as  much  as  she 
consumed  ;  she  would  have  been  no  surplus  ;  and 
if  she  had  increased  there  would  have  been  no  harm, 
because  her  increase  would,  in  the  usual  course  of 
things,  have  brought  "  a  proportionate  increase  of 
subsistence."  Let  "  EDWARD  LUDLOW"  go  and  ask 
JOHN  CAM  (if  he  be  acquainted  with  him)  whether 
this  be  not  sound  doctrine;  and  when  he  is  about  it, 
to  make  the  illustration  more  ample,  he  may  ask  the 
Squire  how  the  case  stands  with  regard  even  to  the 
Squire  himself  who  is  one,  they  say,  of  a  family  of 
TEN  CHILDREN,  and  whose  father  has,  as  "  Com- 
missioner of  Nabob  of  ArcoCs  Debts"  (O  Lord !) 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND.  425 


received  about  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  near- 
ly, or  quite,  the  last  thirty  years ;  and,  of  course, 
about  forty-jive  thousand  pounds  on  the  whole, 
[216,000  dollars.] 

Here  again  the  doctrine  of  "  LUDLOW"  applies : 
here  is  Cl  surplus  population :"  here,  if  the  parties 
were  left  to  the  "  unrestrained  instincts  of  nature," 
they  would  certainly  devour  up  the  earth  itself  in 
time.  But  if  these  ten  persons  were  not  thus  pro- 
vided for  out  of  the  fruit  of  other  people's  labour, 
they  might  now  be  all  engaged  in  occupations  in 
which  they  would,  in  some  way  or  other,  be  producers 
of  food,  clothing,  houses,  ships,  or  some  other  things 
necessary  to  man ;  and  then  the  addition  that  they 
would  make  to  the  population  would  be  no  surplus  ; 
because  they  would,  by  their  labour,  cause  a  propor- 
tionate addition  to  the  food  and  other  things  neces- 
sary to  man,  and  necessary  to  the  support  of  the 
power  of  the  country. 

The  conclusion,  then,  is  this :  that  of  those  who 
create  useful  things  by  their  labour,  either  of  hands 
or  head,  there  never  can  be  too  many  in  any  country  ; 
because  they  will  create  subsistence  in  proportion  to 
their  numbers,  and  there  will  be  less  population  in  a 
given  space  of  unproductive  land  than  in  the  same 
space  of  productive  land,  because  the  subsistence 
must  exist  before  the  new  mouths  can  come;  but 
that,  of  those  who  create  nothing  useful,  there  may 
be,  as  there  is  now  in  this  country,  a  great  surplus 
population,  and  this  may  be  so  prodigious  as  to  pro- 
duce something  very  nearly  approaching  to  general 
famine,  as  is  the  case  at  this  moment  in  Ireland, 
whence  the  idlers  bring  away  so  much  as  to  leave  not 
a  sufficiency  even  of  the  accursed  root  to  keep  the 
producing  classes  from  starving. 

To  bar  all  cavil  upon  the  subject,  let  me  add,  that 
I  do  not  include  amongst  the  idlers,  lawyers,  doctors, 
or  teachers  of  any  sort,  as  far  as  they  be  necessary  in 
a  country  ;  nor  the  makers  and  administrators  of  the 
laws ;  nor  soldiers,  nor  sailors,  necessary  for  the  de- 
36* 


426       TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

fence  of  the  country.  These  assist  those  who  create 
and  who  convey  from  hand  to  hand  the  things  cre- 
ated by  securing  to  them  protection  and  peace,  and 
the  enjoyment  of  the  things  created.  The  owner  of 
the  land  is  no  idler ;  for  the  land  is  necessary  to  all ; 
and  without  an  owner  it  could  not  be  advantageously 
used.  But  those  who  draw  their  subsistence  from, 
those  who  labour,  without  adequate  services  in  return ; 
these  are  the  idlers  ;  and  they  do  not  deserve  to  be 
put  on  a  level  with  stock  upon  a  farm,  because  these 
we,  first  or  last,  turn  into  meat,  shoes,  or  coats ; 
whereas  the  idlers,  like  the  vermin  that  suck  our 
blood,  or  those  that  eat  up  our  victuals  in  our  cup- 
boards, are,  in  their  lives,  our  torment,  and,  in  their 
deaths,  our  disgust. 

There,  nasty  "EDWARD  LUDLOW  ;"  now  go  and 
put  forth  your  scheme  for  sending  the  working-peo- 
ple away,  or  for  "  incapacitating  them  from  breed- 
ing ;"  and  then  go  to  some  farm-yard  in  the  north  of 
Wiltshire,  and,  as  the  reward  for  discovering  your 
"  beautiful  science,"  have  your  brains  knocked  out 
by  the  milk-maids  against  the  posts  of  the  cow-cribs. 

WM.  COBBETT. 


TO  THE  LABOURERS, 
On  the  folly  of  their  putting  their  Money  into  Clubs. 

Kensington,  Jan.  1,  1832. 
MY  FRIENDS, 

It  is  the  general  practice  of  those  who  invent  some- 
thing to  delude  and  cheat  other  people,  to  give  a  good 
name  to  the  thing  which  they  invent ;  and,  accord- 
ingly, those  who  have  invented  this  scheme  for  inr 
ducing  you  to  give  up  your  earnings,  to  prevent  them 
from  paying  poor-rates,  have  christened  these  clubs 
"  BENEFIT  clubs,"  instead  of  calling  them,  as  they 
ought  to  have  done,  clubs  to  wheedle  money  out  of 
the  hard-earned  pence  of  the  working-peoplej  in 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OP  ENGLAND.  427 

!er  to  spare  the  purses  of  the  landowners,  big 
farmers,  and  other  rich  men.  It  was  not  till  about 
seventy  years  ago  that  clubs  like  these  were  ever 
heard  of  in  England.  Before  this  Protestant  Church 
of  England  sprang  up,  the  poor  were  relieved  out  of 
the  tithes.  Since  that,  the  parsons,  the  bishops,  the 
deans  and  chapters,  and  the  nobility  and  gentry,  have 
taken  all  the  tithes  to  themselves;  and  the  poor  have 
been  relieved  by  what  are  called  the  poor-rates.  The 
same  may  be  said  with  regard  to  the  church-rates, 
which  also  formerly  came  out  of  the  tithes. 

There  needed  no  clubs  before  this  Protestant 
Church  establishment  came,  because  the  priests  re- 
lieved all  the  poor  out  of  the  tithes,  and  out  of  the 
rents  of  lands,  and  other  property,  which  had  beea 
bequeathed  to  the  clergy  for  that  purpose.  There 
was  therefore  no  occasion  for  poor-rates,  for  all  poor 
persons  were  sure  to  be  taken  care  of,  whether  in 
sickness  or  in  health,  to  the  end  of  their  days ;  and 
besides,  so  happy  was  the  state  of  the  country,  that 
there  were  few  persons  poor  in  any  one  parish ;  the 
wages  paid  to  labourers  were  so  good,  that  no  man 
who  was  able  to  work,  ever  stood  in  need  of  relief; 
and  in  case  of  sickness,  people  in  general  were  so 
well  off,  that  there  were  few  who  could  not  be  con- 
veniently relieved  by  their  relations.  This  fatal 
change  took  place  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago;  and  it  is  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  years 
ago  that  the  poor-rates  weie  enacted.  For  many 
years  poverty  was  not  so  great,  wages  were  not  so 
low,  in  proportion  to  the  price  of  provisions,  as  to 
compel  many  persons  to  apply  for  parish  relief. 
When  I  was  a  boy,  it  used  to  be  deemed  a  shame 
to  apply  to  the  parish.  But  the  desolating  and  ex- 
travagantly expensive,  and  long  and  bloody,  wars  of 
George  III.  plunged  the  nation  into  debts,  so  great, 
made  the  taxes  so  heavy,  and  made  wages  so  low, 
in  proportion  to  the  price  of  provisions,  that  labour- 
ing men  were  compelled,  in  case  of  sickness  espe 
cially,  either  to  expose  their  families  to  be  starved, 


42S       TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

or  to  obtain  assistance  greater  than  their  relations 
'were  able  to  give  them.  In  this  state  of  things  the 
cunning  fellows,  who  had  to  pay  the  poor-rates,  in- 
vented what  thej  called  "  BENEFIT  clubs,"  which 
was  a  scheme  for  drawing  out  of  the  wages  of  the 
labourers,  who  were  able  to  work,  the  means  of  re- 
lieving those  who  were  unable  to  work;  or,  in  other 
words,  to  make  the  healthy  labourers  pinch  their 
bellies  and  their  backs,  in  order  to  relieve  the  sick 
labourers,  and  thus  save  the  pockets  of  these  cun- 
ning rich  fellows. 

Every  penny  that  a  labouring  man  pays  into  these 
clubs,  is  a  penny  given  to  the  rich ;  and,  besides  that, 
it  is  a  penny  given  to  uphold  Sturges  Bourne's 
bills,  and  to  pay  hired  overseers,  and  in  short  to  nay 
for  causing  himself  and  his  neighbours  to  be  put  into 
harness  and  to  be  made  to  draw  carts  and  wagons 
like  beasts  of  burden.  If  you  could  have  any  doubt 
in  your  minds  about  the  tendency  of  these  clubs,  you 
would  only  have  to  look  at  the  persons  who  are  the 
most  eager  to  promote  such  clubs,  and  to  uphold 
them  and  perpetuate  them.  There  was  a  fellow, 
some  years  ago,  a  Scotch  fellow,  named  OLD  GEORGE 
ROSE,  who  had  been  a  purser  in  the  navy ;  who  was 
a  famous  tool  of  the  famous  Pin ;  from  a  PURSER  he 
became  a  right  honourable  privy  councillor  /  he 
received  for  many  years  not  less  than  ten  thousand 
pounds  a  year  of  the  public  money ;  he  got  a  sine- 
cure place  settled  upon  him  for  life  of  three  thousand 
pounds  a  year,  and  settled  upon  his  son,  GEORGE 
ROSE,  for  his  life  also.  This  man  became,  about 
forty  years  ago,  the  great  promoter  of  benefit  clubs ; 
he  lived  at  Cufihells.  in  the  New  Forest,  in  Hamp- 
shire ;  he  was  himself  a  member  of  a  club  there  ; 
he  used  punctually  to  pay  in  his  pennies ;  he  used 'to 
dint  with  the  club ;  and  thus  he  drew  in,  thus  this 
cunning  Scotchman  humbugged,  all  the  poor  chop- 
sticks about  that  country,  taking  good  care  never  to 
tell  them  that  his  carriages,  and  horses,  and  fine  park, 
and  deer,  all  came  out  of  their  labour. 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OP  ENGLAND.  429 

Another  great  patron  of  benefit  clubs  is  that  FLEM- 
ING, (whose  name  was  WILLIS,)  who  was  lately  a 
member  for  Hampshire,  and  who  was  so  pelted  off 
the  hustings  at  Winchester.  Can  this  man  want  to 
do  good  to  the  people  ?  Can  he  be  the  friend  of  the 
working  people  ?  Can  he,  who  was  the  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  parsons  in  Hampshire,  mean  to  do  the 
working  people  any  good  ?  Besides,  you  see  all  the 
greediest  of  the  big  farmers,  the  most  eager  to  pro* 
mote  and  uphold  these  clubs. 

Then,  again,  mark  the  conduct  of  the  Govern- 
ment !  What  business  had  it  and  the  Parliament  to 
meddle  with  the  affairs  of  these  clubs  ?  Wrhat  right 
had  they  to  interfere  with  the  management  of  these 
concerns  ?  What  right  had  they  to  meddle  with  the 
management  and  distribution  of  money  belonging  to 
the  members  of  a  club,  any  more  than  with  money 
belonging  to  any  partnership  whatsoever  ?  Yet 
they  have  interfered ;  they  have  passed  laws  to  give 
their  magistrates  a  superintending  power  over  these 
clubs  ;  they  have  passed  laws  to  prevent  the  mem- 
bers from  dividing  the  money  at  their  own  pleasure  ; 
they  have  passed  laws  which,  in  effect,  take  the 
money  from  under  the  command  of  the  members  of 
the  club  ;  and,  in  a  great  measure,  take  it  away  and 
make  it  a  part  of  what  is  called  the  national  debt. 

The  savings  banks,  as  they  are  called,  were  in- 
vented by  that  same  cunning  Scotchman,  old  GEORGB 
ROSE.  The  money  collected  by  these  things  is,  what 
is  called,  put  into  the  funds,  and  the  poor  people 
imagine  thai  the  funds  mean  a  chest  or  box  where 
the  money  j*  locked  up.  Alas  !  my  poor  friends, 
there  is  no  such  chest  or  box  ;  the  funds  mean  the 
national  or  government  debt ;  and  the  putting  of 
money  into  the  funds  is  the  lending  of  money  to  the 
Government ;  and  the  Government  pays  the  interest 
of  it,  not  out  of  any  fund  that  it  has,  but  out  of  the 
taxes,  a  part  of  which  you  pay  in  every  gallon  of 
malt,  pot  of  beer,  pound  of  sugar,  bit  of  soap,  or  can- 
dle, that  you  consume,  and  upon  every  bit  of  tobacco 


430  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

that  goes  into  your  mouth  ;  so  that,  first,  you  put 
your  earnings  into  the  clubs,  or  the  hanks ;  next,  the 
Government  borrows  it;  and  next,  if  you  ever  get 
any  interest,  you  get  it  out  of  the  taxes  that  you  your- 
selves have  paid !  Nothing  that  ever  was  heard  of 
in  the  world  before  is  equal  to  this  delusion  and  folly 
on  your  part ;  and  to  the  craft  of  those  who  induce 
you  to  put  your  money  into  these  clubs  and  banks. 

When  a  club  man  is  ill,  the  parish  give  him  no  re- 
lief; because  he  has  an  allowance  out  of  the  club. 
When  a  man  becomes  seventy  years  old,  he  has  an 
allowance  from  the  club  for  the  rest  of  his  life  ;  and, 
whether  sick  or  well,  the  parish  never  give  him  any 
relief  to  the  day  of  his  death  !  One  would  think  that 
this  was  enough  to  open  your  eyes  :  one  would  think 
that  here  was  enough  to  make  you  see  why  the  big, 
the  grasping,  the  grinding  farmers,  are  so  eager  to 
get  you  into  clubs,  "  into  benefit  clubs ;"  that  is  to 
say,  into  clubs  that  are  of  great  benefit  to  them,  and 
of  great  injury  to  you  ;  here  is  enough  to  make  you 
see  why  they  do  you  the  honour  to  come  and  dine 
with  you  once  a  year,  though  all  the  rest  of  the  year 
they  treat  you  far  worse  than  they  treat  their  dogs. 

If  a  man  earn  more  money  than  is  necessary  to 
supply  him  with  food  and  with  raiment  and  the  other 
things  that  he  wants,  cannot  he  keep  Ms  money  him- 
self? Cannot  he  take  as  good  care  of  it,  as  the  grinding 
farmers  and  the  Government  can  ?  yes,  and  if  he 
happen  to  be  sick,  he  has  relief  from  the  parish,  and 
his  own  money  too,  and  he  ought  to  have  both ;  for 
the  money  that  he  has  saved  he  ought  to  keep  till 
old  age,  as  the  just  reward  of  his  extraordinary  in- 
dustry and  frugality.  A  drunken  and  dissolute  life 
produces  illness ;  and  as  there  will  naturally  be 
some  drunken  and  dissolute  persons  in  the  club,  they 
will  be  sick  oftener  than  the  rest ;  so  that  the  sober 
and  orderly  man  has  to  work  to  maintain  the  profli- 
gate in  his  sickness.  Then,  again,  some  men  have 
hereditary  diseases,  such  as  consumption  and  king's- 
evil.  These  unfortunate  persons  aare  entitled  to 


TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND.        43  I 

compassion  from  the  healthy  labouring  man ;  but 
they  are  entitled  to  support  from  the  lands  of  the 
parish,  and  ought  not  to  be  made  in  this  manner  to 
extract  their  maintenance  from  the  healthy  labouring 
men. 

The  depositing  of  money  in  this  way,  has  a  very 
bad  moral  effect ;  it  makes  men  less  careful  to  ad- 
here to  such  conduct  as  is  necessary  to  the  preser- 
vation of  health.  It  tends  to  make  them  drunkards, 
and  to  be  less  cautious  how  they  expose  themselves 
to  bodily  harm.  In  many  cases  it  makes  them  suc- 
cessful hypocrites ;  makes  them  either  sham  illness 
altogether,  or  to  affect  its  existence  after  it  has  ceased. 

But,  after  all,  and  if  all  the  other  objections  were 
removed,  what  sense  is  there  in  the  thing?  What 
is  there  in  it  but  pure  folly  ?  What  is  there  in  it  but 
giving  away  your  money  ?  All  the  men  that  enter 
the  club  must  be  young  and  healthy  at  the  time  ; 
and  why  should  a  young  and  healthy  man  give  his 
money  to  any  body  else  to  keep  for  him  against  a 
day  of  sickness  ?  Either  he  pinches  his  back  or  his 
belly  for  the  sake  of  lodging  this  money  in  the  club, 
or  he  has  this  money  over  and  above  that  which  he 
wants  for  his  back  or  his  belly ;  if  the  former,  then 
he  enfeebles  himself;  makes  himself  a  poor  mean- 
looking  fellow ;  undermines  his  health  and  strength, 
solely  for  the  advantage  of  those  who  live  in  luxury 
and  splendour  on  the  fruit  of  his  toil:  if  the  latter, 
why  not  keep  the  money  in  his  own  chest  ?  In  the 
course  of  the  year  he  pays  thirty  or  forty  shillings 
into  the  all-swallowing  club.  In  the  course  of  five 
years  he  pays  in  ten  pounds  perhaps.  But  suppose 
it  to  be  only  twenty  shillings  a  year,  how  many  times 
does  a  man  see  an  occasion  in  which,  by  the  means 
of  this  little  bit  of  ready  money,  he  could,  to  very 
great  advantage,  purchase  a  pig,  plant  a  bit  of  ground, 
or  do  something  by  which  the  money  would  produce 
him  more  to  eat,  drink,  or  wear,  than  two  pounds  laid 
out  from  hand  to  mouth  ?  Many  are  such  occasions 
that  present  themselves ;  but  you  cannot  avail  your- 


432  TO  THE  LABOURERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

self  of  them,  for  your  money  is  locked  up  in  the  club. 
You  cannot  brew  without  malt,  and  hops ;  the  club 
has  got  your  money,  and  you  must  go  to  the  ale- 
house, and  purchase  your  beer  by  the  pot.  So  that 
these  clubs,  view  them  in  what  light  you  will,  are 
injurious  to  the  working  people,  and  serve  no  other 
purpose  than  that  of  making  their  lot  harder  than  it 
would  have  been  without  them.  Young  men  deem  a 
bastard  child  a  great  burden  ;  but,  not  to  mention, 
that,  in  this  case,  there  has  been  something  like  value 
received,  and  that  time,  and  reasonable  time  too,  takes 
the  burden  from  your  shoulders,  which,  besides,  you 
may  at  any  time  remove  by  doing  justice  to  the 
mother :  whereas  the  club  sticks  to  you  all  your  life 
long,  while  you  have  health  and  strength  sufficient 
to  enable  you  to  sit  all  the  day  and  crack  flint  stones 
with  a  hammer. 

Therefore^  my  advice  to  all  young  men  is,  Never 
give  a  farthing  to  one  of  these  clubs  ;  and  if  you 
have  begun  to  give,  cease  to  give  immediately  ;  to 
have  been  foolish,  is  no  reason  for  being  foolish  still; 
and  be  you  well  assured  that  the  first  loss  is  the  best. 
Stuck  on  to  one  of  these  clubs,  you  cannot  remove 
out  of  the  kingdom  ;  nor  even  very  well  from  one 
part  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other,  without  losing  all 
that  you  have  put  into  this  craftily-contrived  trap. 
Get  out  of  it  if  you  be  in ;  keep  out  of  it  if  you  be 
out ;  and  trust  to  God,  to  your  own  industry,  and  so- 
briety, and  to  the  law  of  the  land,  for  aid  in  case  of 
sickness ;  and  thus  merit  the  commendation  of 
Your  friend, 

WM.  COBBETT. 


THE  END. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY—TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


MA*    s  lu^ 

^O*             V     i\j()U     f>     r% 

rv          y-^2 

~ff       , 

JUS  6  "89  .A  Mi 

DECEIVED 

nn  1  1  m  • 

2  2003 

jAr 

CIRCULATION  DEDT 

*  02  2003 

, 

''0167245 


?s 


.G7 


